What began among a small circle of friends in New York and San Francisco during the late 1940's and early 1950's laid the groundwork for a literary explosion, and this striking anthology captures the storied era in all its incarnations - from the Benzedrine-fueled antics of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs to the painting sessions of Jay deFeo's disheveled studio, from the jazz hipsters to the beatnik chicks, from Chicago's College of Complexes to San Francisco's famed City Lights bookstore. Snapshots of lesser-known poets and writers sit alongside frank and compelling looks at the Beats' most recognizable faces. What emerges is a brilliant collage of - and tribute to - a generation, in a form and style that is as original as its subject. The text is by Harvey Pekar and others and the art is by Ed Piskor. Paul Buhle edited the book. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.