Amazon.com Review
Now that Francis Ford Coppola is making a film of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the beats--Kerouac, Ginsberg, Whalen, Cassady, and others, some gone but not forgotten--are due for another in a series of periodic rediscoveries by the mainstream media. This heavily illustrated book does the work of several tomes. It analyzes beat culture from a historical viewpoint, showing its growth in the Cold War as an expression of alienation on one hand and utter artistic joy on the other. It also charts the rise of a postwar African American intellectual movement whose influence remains strong; examines the effect of beat sensibilities on the hippies who followed a decade later, and on youth culture generally; and traces the path of beat ideas in the arts, especially film. Most of all, it makes you want to turn to Desolation Angels and Howl for the first or the hundredth time for a righteous dose of bebop delight.
From Library Journal
Containing ten essays and over 250 illustrations, this impressive catalog of the controversial show at the Whitney Museum (Nov. 9, 1995-Feb. 4, 1996), put together by the curator, documents the pervasive influence of the Beat Generation on American art and culture. The exhibit includes manuscripts, photographs, and artwork by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso, as well as work by several West Coast artists, including Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, and Robert Lavigne. Essay topics, stressing shared artistic and cultural concerns, range from African American influences on the Beat Generation to the aesthetics of Beat filmmaking. A detailed chronology rounds out the book. Highly recommended for contemporary art and literature collections.?William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
