The Beats: From Kerouac to Kesey, an Illustrated Journey through the Beat Generation [Hardcover]

Mike Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road, the defining book of the Beat Generation. Jack Kerouac wrote his masterpiece in one frenzied three-week period in 1951 on the infamous 119-foot scroll, which has been “on the road” touring the nation since 2004, slated to continue on through spring 2008. The scroll will also be published in its original, unedited version in book form for the very first time in 2007. Tying into the anniversary and the resurgence of the Beat movement in our collective cultural consciousness is our lavishly illustrated book The Beats, a spectacular record of that most explosive period, when the conservative blandness of ’50s America gave way to the artistic, social, and sexual liberation of the ’60s. With over 200 illustrations, many rarely seen before, the book tells the story of the Beat Generation from its subterranean beginnings in New York and San Francisco to world-wide acclaim. Set against the backdrop of seedy student pads, smoky jazz cellars, and-most crucially-the open road, it’s a story of a rebellion that challenged society’s attitudes towards sex, drugs, and freedom of speech. Following the turbulent saga of Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and the other Beats via reckless love affairs, obscenity trials, murder cases, and press vilification, to media celebrity and the “Beatnik” craze that followed, their story represents the evolution of the counterculture from hipsters to hippies. Featuring a wealth of first-hand quotes, archive documentation, and exclusive interview material with Beat wife, muse, and chronicler Carolyn Cassady, The Beats is a timely celebration of a seminal-and often neglected-era in modern popular culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a basic literary overview of the major figures and events of the beat generation, Evans's handsome coffee-table book serves its purpose satisfactorily, if not with particular attention to insight or detail. Evans, for example, perfunctorily recounts Kerouac's oft-cited Benzedrine-fueled writing of On the Road with no mention of the fact that most recent publications have downgraded his principal writing aid to coffee. Someone looking for biographical complexity, however, has an ever-growing library of other volumes to choose from; this book's value lies largely in the photographs, original book covers and various other visual elements that enhance nearly every page. Evans does an elegant job of visually charting the beats' trajectory from the intensely personal inner circle of the '40s and mid-'50s to the national praise, misunderstanding and often ridicule that greeted their ideals in the late '50s and '60s. He accomplishes this transition by subtly shifting the bulk of visual material from intimate photos of the principal figures to an expanding network of junk (The Beat Generation Cookbook) and inspiration (the happenings of Claes Oldenberg) that mirrors the mass culture explosion of America through the decades. Color and b&w illus. (Nov.)
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Review

"If you remember the Sixties, you weren't there, goes the saying, so thank heavens for Mike Evans's riotous pictures and pacey- fact-filled celebration" -- Sunday Express (London), August 12

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762430486
• ISBN-13: 978-0762430482
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Conversation Piece, April 15, 2009

By 

Nate (Colorado) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beats: From Kerouac to Kesey, an Illustrated Journey through the Beat Generation (Hardcover)

A fine introduction/overview of The Beats and their influence on the literary and cultural landscape of America (and beyond). Great pictures. Belongs on the coffee table. A conversation piece.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An influence for generations, February 17, 2011

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Neil The Unreel (MD) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beats: From Kerouac to Kesey, an Illustrated Journey through the Beat Generation (Hardcover)

As a big fan of the Beats, this has to be one of the best overall views of not just the literary scene, but the Beat scene and how it influenced American in the 1950's and 1960's. The history of the gang of three, Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg and their impact on art is captured not only in a concise writing, but great photographs. If you are looking to understand not just the Beats, but the pre-war art scene with painters like Jackson Pollack and musicians like Miles Davis, this is one of the better books.

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love the Beat Generation, you will love this book!, July 27, 2011

By 

Shanna Johnson (Bowling Green, Kentucky, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beats: From Kerouac to Kesey, an Illustrated Journey through the Beat Generation (Hardcover)

Not only does it give the history of how all of the Beats became friends, etc, but the book is also filled with great pictures. I have always been interested in the poetry of this generation, but this book really let me in on the historical importance and how the times were changing. I would suggest this to anyone interesting in the Beat generation and contemporary literature/poetry.