Publisher's Synopsis
This is a celebration of the anti-establishment literature of the 1950's. Here you will find the works of Jack Kerouac, Williams Burroughs, Allen Ginsburg, Kingsley Amis, J. P. Donleavy, Norman Mailer, Colin Wilson and many more. In America they were the beat generation-beaten down or upbeat, depending who you talk to-and in England they were the angry young men-working and middle class writers who were disillusioned with traditional English society. Collectively they stood the literary world on end and paved the way for everything from the women's movement and the hippie counter culture to the sexual revolution. They broke down the doors of censorship and opened the way toward social liberation. They popularized Eastern philosophies, lifestyle tolerance, eco-consciousness and drug experimentation-and war protesting.Some of these authors turned staunchly conservative later in their lives, while others stayed true to their causes and remain popular icons of rebellion and outrage. Over fifty years later, their message still rings clear-Man is not a robot, but a creative, spontaneous living being. The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men voiced their cry, and it is still being heard today.
