It's a rare book that can appeal to both novice and master, and this book does it. The curious young readers, just reading On the Road or Howl for the first time, will find the book eminently accessible. Those voracious collectors of Beat works will want to add this to their shelves."
--William McKeen, author of Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson
 
 
For preeminent historian of Beat culture John Tytell, their stories and history had to be found in the bars, towns, roads, and hangouts of these writers and figures. And as Writing Beat demonstrates, the same techniques apply to new and future writers.  As he interviewed, drank, traveled, and survived countless moments with some of these literary legends, Tytell discovered much about the craft of nonfiction and biography, and the nature of history. Writing Beat demonstrates, through Tytell's growth as a professor and historian of the Beats, lessons learned and hazards encountered for those aspiring to become writers themselves.  As we pass the sixtieth anniversary of Allen Ginsberg's Howl, Writing Beat reminds us writers do not spring to life fully formed, and the struggle to get to literature can be a blast.