Meltzer, a poet who's maintained the edge he sharpened fighting conformity back in the heady days of the Beats, carries the battle forward in this engrossing volume of in-depth interviews with such fellow travelers as Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen, who have thrived over the decades and become tremendously influential poets andspiritual leaders. The true legacy of the Beat era was the entwining of art with social awareness and spiritual quests, and the resonance from this brief but indelible revolution is felt in both Meltzer's vintage and recent interviews. His 1969 encounters with the late great poets William Everson, Kenneth Rexroth, and Lew Welch capture the intensity and probity of that inspired time and are invaluable works of oral history, as are the striking juxtapositions between Meltzer's past and present discussions with the still radical and thrilling Lawrence Ferlinghetti Jack Hirschman, and Michael McClure. Eloquent and knowledgeable, these poets and others, including Diane di Prima and Joanne Kyger, speak creatively and ardently about things that matter: poetry, music, war, capitalism, ecology, religion, philosophy, justice, liberty, and love. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.