The Fall of America Journals 19651971
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About this book
An autobiographical journey through America in the turbulent 1960sthe essential backstory to Ginsbergs National Book Awardwinning volume of poetry Published in 1974 The Fall of America was Allen Ginsbergs magnum opus a poetic account of his experiences in a nation in turmoil. What his National Book Awardwinning volume documented he had also recorded playing a reel-to-reel tape machine given to him by Bob Dylan as he traveled the nations byways and visited its cities finding himself again and again in the midst of history in the makingor unmaking. Through a wealth of autopoesy (transcriptions of these recorded poems) published here for the first time in the poets journals of this period Ginsberg can be overheard collecting the observations events reflections and conversations that would become his most extraordinary work as he witnessed America at a time of historic upheaval and gave voice to the troubled soul at its crossroads. The Fall of America Journals 19651971 contains some of Ginsbergs finest spontaneous writing accomplished as he pondered the best and worst his country had to offer. He speaks of his anger over the war in Vietnam the continuing oppression of dissidents intractable struggles and experiments with drugs and sexuality. He mourns the deaths of his friends Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac parses the intricacies of the presidential politics of 1968 and grapples with personal and professional challenges in his daily life. An essential backstory to his monumental work the journals from these years also reveal drafts of some of his most highly regarded poems including Wichita Vortex Sutra Wales Visitation On Neals Ashes and Memory Gardens as well as poetry published here for the first time and his notes on many of his vivid and detailed dreams. Transcribed edited and annotated by Michael Schumacher a writer closely associated with Ginsbergs life and work these journals are nothing less than a first draft of the poets journey to the heart of twentieth-century America.
