I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was America's most influential poet since World War II, in the vanguard of every popular movement of that time, from the emergence of the Beat generation to the countercultural revolution to the interest in Eastern spirituality. In this new biography, the first since the poet's death in 1997, Bill Morgan offers a revealing portrait of a complicated and flamboyant character. He examines Ginsberg's life and his impact on society from many different angles: his political views, his battles with censorship, and his approach to drugs. He also provides a more accurate picture than previously told of Ginsberg's search for love (including his complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky) and of his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism. He also lists the titles of Ginsberg's poems in the margins so that the reader can see exactly what he was writing at any point in his life.—From publisher description.