"Allen Ginsberg's essays, collected here for the first time, were written over the course of a long, productive, and politically engaged life. With his finger ever on the pulse of America, Ginsberg was consistently outspoken and passionate about his beliefs. Whether criticizing the American government, protesting the proliferation of nuclear weapons or the waging of war in Vietnam, or denouncing the injustice of capitalism, Ginsberg gave voice to a moral conscience of the nation. His views on free speech and the drug culture, his quest for inner peace, the creation of the Beat generation, and his innovative poetics reflect the concerns of a postwar American culture that he helped shape."--Jacket.