A great introduction to the Beat generation.
I learned a great many things from Kerouac’s horrific anti-semitism, to details of the lesser known Beats such as Holmes and Snyder.
I particularly like how Sterritt says the Beats were concerned with ‘unspeakable visions of the individual’. Their focus on introspection clashing with their effect on culture is something I’d never considered before.
My takeaway is to read works by Burroughs. I dismissed him as a morally decrepit addict for shooting his wife in the head, but Sterritt’s book suggests he is more nuanced, and sorrowful than I realised.