Tales of Beatnik Glory

I'm thrilled this book has finally arrived! I have the previous printing of this book, the Citadel Underground edition which contained Volumes One and Two of Sanders' marvelous autobiographical/historical tales, set in a time long long ago and (sadly) very far away, and I have periodically checked the bookstores over the years to see if the expanded book (promised by Sanders years ago) had ever seen fruition. At almost double the the last set of tales, this presents a great value even for those who (like me) own and cherish a previous edition of this book. Young people who read this book will be amazed to learn there was a time in America where one did not have ransom one's life merely to house and feed oneself, when one could be free to pursue personal pursuits, whether artistic or merely whimsical, where a sense of play and of hope were in the zeitgeist. Oldsters who lived it and semi-oldsters (such as myself) who were too young to have lived it but who observed it will take these tales as a tonic, a vivid reminder that life can be hopeful and creative and fun, can be other than mere grubbing for subsistence, can be affirmative rather than merely resigned, and that one can live as one chooses rather than be co-opted. Sanders tells these tales with brio and zest, and anyone who does not at least partly envy the lives lived by his characters must be presumed to have never realized he or she lives in a Platonic cave, yet to actually experience the light of day.

I want to read all 9000 of those pages over and over! Fabrente Rose, a poem in the second volume, deals so well with the early Socialism of America, and I'm still using the couplet "in di gasn tsu di masn" to express the actions needed. His poem deals with the sex, the drugs, the Lower East Side, the perf-po, the lifestyles, the people, the EVERYTHING! The final poem, which deals with Freedom Summer, was perfectly written. I generally judge a book by the very ending, and this is the best ending to one of the best books I have ever read.