From The Peopling of NYC

"The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked ." - Amiri Baraka

"Saturday I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with a friend of my who claims to be an "intellectual" and knows queer and interesting people there. I plan to get drunk Saturday evening, if I can." -Allen Ginsberg, 1943, letter to brother Eugene.

Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burrough, Neil Cassidy, Gregory Corso, and Peter Orlovsky were members of the prominent Beat Generation although the term also refers to counter-culture radicalness.

Most of the Beat Generation served in World World II and the Korean War, they were usually middle-class college students, who rejected conventional social standards. They were sexually promiscious, they denounced consumer ethics, they were drug addicts, they were prostitutes and they were outcasts. Perhaps the Beats are defined by their non-conformist behavior and thier influence was proportionally unequal to their small number. Although the Beat Movement began to decline in the late 1950s, the Beats were the predecessors of the Hippies and the Yippies.

Silent Footage of the Beats

Interview with Jack Kerouac

Important Beat Generation Works

• Howl by Allen Ginsberg
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

Allen Ginsberg in Greenwich Village: His Influences and Influence

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