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In Ambition and Survival, Wiman, the editor of Poetry magazine, reflects on growing up in West Texas and becoming a poetic nomad. He also writes about particular poets and their poetic experiences. But the entire collection—written over a period of 11 years—is channeled through the experience of Wiman’s conversion to Christianity. After many years of wandering, the experiences of writer’s block, falling in love and being diagnosed with incurable cancer guided Wiman toward his conversion.