THE BEATS: FROM KEROUAC TO KESEY, AN...GENERATION

Tying in with the 50th anniversary of the publication of "On the Road", this is a lavishly illustrated celebration of the Beat Generation. In many ways the Beats set the tone for the pop-culture developments of the 1950s and 60s, but their role has in many ways been overlooked. But now, with the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Kerouac's "On the Road", and with Francis Ford Coppola's film of the book in production their pivotal role is finally being given the recognition it deserves. "The Beats" sets out to play a part in that process, offering a fascinating, fast-moving account of the key people and events from Beat history. The story takes the reader below the bland surface of 1950s America, into a seething, subterranean world of creative experimentation and rebellion against conventional lifestyles. From their love of jazz to their experiments with drugs, and from their later discovery of Buddhism to their canonization of the restless, impulsive Neal Cassady, the book brings the Beat generation to life in full, glorious technicolour. "The Beats" is the first ever comprehensive, fully illustrated treatment of this key period in cultural history.