Beat Culture and the New America: 1950–1965

This book analyzes beat culture from a historical viewpoint, showing its growth in the Cold War as an expression of alienation on one hand and utter artistic joy on the other. It also charts the rise of a postwar African American intellectual movement whose influence remains strong; examines the effect of beat sensibilities on the hippies who followed a decade later, and on youth culture generally; and traces the path of beat ideas in the arts, especially film.