The Beat Book: Writings from the Beat Generation [Paperback]

Anne Waldman (Editor), Allen Ginsberg (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 1999

Here is an unusually diverse collection of Beat voices, including not only Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg, but Amiri Baraka, Gregory Corso, Diane di Prima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joanne Kyger, Michael McClure, Peter Orlovsky, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen. Also included are short biographies of the writers and a "Literary Guide to Beat Places" around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Beats, that is, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Diane DiPrima, and Michael McClure, to name a core group, are finally being accorded the attention they deserve; they constituted, after all, a major, lastingly influential arts movement. . . . The fact that Waldman's [book] is of such high quality is no surprise; a poet herself, she cofounded, with Ginsberg, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado."— Booklist

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (March 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570624275
• ISBN-13: 978-1570624278
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,624,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Beat, June 28, 2008

By 

Moray Maxwell (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beat Book: Writings from the Beat Generation (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book that gives you the highlights, the best, of the Beats, along with background information, this is the book for you. Ginsberg wrote the forward, Waldman edited. All the writers are here. Enjoy.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a mix bag, but overall, its a good try., December 24, 2004

By 

C. D. Varn "fabianwhig" (Macon, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beat Book: Writings from the Beat Generation (Paperback)

The introductions were a little sparse and a lot of the homosexuality was considerably downplayed, Ann's book does give language poetry and female Beats like Diane DiPrima much more space than they get in other Beat anthologies. In fact, much of the "man's world" that is Beat literature is balanced in this anthology. I admit, sometimes, when it comes to overviews of the American avant-garde, one is trading one whitewash for another.

Anyway, this anthology devotes time to writers other than the big three of the Beats. Selections from Joanne Kyger, John Wieners, Diane Di Prima, and Lenore Kandel make this anthology well-worth its price despite its flaws.

17 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars homophobia unleashed, April 6, 2000

By 

Nysocboy (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beat Book: Writings from the Beat Generation (Paperback)

Did you know that Burroughs was straight? Or Ginsburg? Yep -- not a word about their homoerotic interests, either in the poems selected (or oddly slashed up) or in the intros. We do find out that Orlovsky was Ginsburg's "companion" -- is this the year 1928? The editor evidently thinks so. Instead of providing an honest introduction to Beat work, she inflicts salacious, incredibly obscure pieces upon us, like a 6-page rant from Michael McClure about (and I quote) "woman woman woman woman woman woman woman." This anthology tells us a lot about the editor's personal idiosyncracies, but it is not a balanced portrayal of the Beats.