Very comprehensive guide to the Beat Generation. If you have more than a passing interest in these authors this is the book for you. If you are looking for a more brief overview I'd suggest something different. I enjoyed this one, though.

Allen Ginsberg, the subject of this book, has been a curiosity to me ever since Bob Dylan mentioned him in an album cover in 1964. Just about all the sedentary, obvious facts of his life are included here. His loves and problems too. But he remains a very stony literary monument. That's funny., in a way, for someone who spent his life writing, ostensibly to tell us something. Supposedly to tell us something.
I would recommend it to anyone who never heard of Ginsberg since he really was a leader of a social movement. I just hate to say, but I admit, he remains pretty much inscrutable.

I was really eager to read The Best Minds of My Generation but had been put off by an experience of reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac. This will probably shock a lot of people but I just didn’t rate it. I read it because I felt like I was supposed to have read it. But, to be perfectly honest, I just wasn’t that impressed.

Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and go for it and just immerse myself in the world of the Beat Writers.

I kind of wish I had chosen another book to read. That probably sounds really harsh but it is because this book, The Best Minds of My Generation, is clearly for hardcore Beat enthusiasts. It is not for someone who is tentatively dipping their toes into this genre.

My recommendation would be that anyone wanting to learn about the history of this period then look elsewhere. If you already love this genre of writing then knock yourself out.

The Best Minds of My Generation – A Literary History of the Beats by Allen Ginsberg is available now.

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In the 1970s Allen Ginsburg taught a course about the Beats at the Naropa Institute and at Brooklyn College, and this book comprises edited versions of his lectures. I’m afraid I lost interest in ploughing through it quite early on – perhaps you had to be there? The lectures are rambling and discursive and although admittedly there’s some interesting stuff in them about the Beats, perhaps I’m just not the intended readership, not being a paid-up acolyte of this group of writers. Perhaps the book is more for literary historians or dedicated fans than the general reader. It certainly wasn’t for me.

When I was in University I had a fantastic teacher who lit a fire under our class (or at least me) and set us off to read as much of it we could. It spoke to me as a teenager, particularly as one who yearned to do some travelling. I still love reading so much of the work that came from these writers, particularly Ginsberg, Corso and Snyder. What has come to my interest more recently is the work that came after the wild phase that lives more in legend, after the time that was kicked off during the Columbia University days.
This book is a fascinating look at back taken from Ginsberg's lectures at the Naropa Institute and at Brooklyn College. He speaks about the works, not particularly focusing on them in terms of adventures, but also recalls situations and experiences. The translation of the lectures to text works well. It doesn't require a constant recollection of his voice but the rhythm of his speech and the energy comes through very clearly. I found the pace with which I read raced and slowed as if I were there hearing it spoken aloud. Given the dialogue based nature of the text it's one I enjoyed picking up for a section or two and then returning at a later date.
Ginsberg relates his experiences, knowledge and passion for his friends' writing in this book with a palpable excitement but not an overblown one; there is criticality and introspection here. For me the most valuable and enjoyable part of reading this book was the warmth and passion that has been invested in it. Such a passion that it is passed on to the reader.

The Best Minds of My Generation: A Literary History of the Beats by Allen Ginsberg is a college course on the beat generation. Ginsberg needs little introduction, but as an author of nonfiction, some introduction is in order. Ginsberg is perhaps best known as one of the original Beat writers and most notably for “The Howl” and the obscenity trials. His collection The Fall shared the 1974 National Book Award and a Pulitzer Finalist for his work Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems 1986–1992.

This book serves as the basis for the classes Ginsburg taught at Naropa Institute and at Brooklyn College. Like many liberal arts courses getting to the end of the information that needs to be presented in the time allowed for the class... one rarely finishes. The overwhelming amount of information is a limiting factor of the detail of the presentation. Also, different areas tend to be given more attention than others. By putting the course into book format, the information is preserved in detail and the reader is free to take in the information in any order. Although not hearing the instructor/author speak, the reader is also not relying on their hurried notes.

If there was a leader of the Beats, Ginsberg insists it was Kerouac. Kerouac is given the biggest section of the book. Ginsberg analyzes several books and the history of the publication. He also gives first-hand information on Kerouac’s life and writing experience. Most of Kerouac’s books are at least semi-autobiographical and Ginsberg gives the behind scene look. And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks ties Kerouac to Burroughs.

William S. Burroughs is covered next. Part of this section concerns Burroughs letters to Ginsberg while he was in South America. Readers who have read Junkie remember Burroughs (writing as William Lee) signing off with his plan to head to South America and search for the hallucinogen yage. The letters pick up there (much like Kerouac’s books run back to back). Needless to say, Burroughs does find the yage and writes about it. Ginsberg goes on to explain Burroughs cut-up style. The explanation includes the theory behind the cut-up method which seems to make more sense than the method itself. The idea is that we are presented with information in such a way to hide the real message. The cut-up reveals the true method. The idea was that you could take a Nixon speech, cut it up, rearrange the pieces, and find out the true meaning of the speech.

William Carlos Williams had a great influence on Ginsberg and is praised throughout the book, Gregory Corso, Hubert Huncke, John Clellon Holmes, Carl Solomon, Peter Orlovsky, and of course Neal Cassady all have a small section of the book. Ginsberg does include himself and it is informative and yet very humble. As the central figure and historian of Beats, Ginsberg plays the role of the narrator rather than a major player. The introduction is by Anne Waldman poet and a member of the Outrider experimental poetry community and she provides and excellent introduction. The Best Minds of My Generation provides a detailed examination of the beat movement and its members. Small chapters with descriptive titles will also allow the read to pick and choose their interests if they do not want to read the book cover to cover. An excellent history.
Available 4/4/17