Holt, Henry & Co, $15

January 18, 2000
Web posted at: 11:58 a.m. EST (1658 GMT)

Review by Josh Zelman

(CNN) -- From the nearly incestuous relationship with his mother to details of a TV program Jack Kerouac was watching before he died, Barry Miles presents, in extraordinary detail, the life of "Jack Kerouac -- King of the Beats."

As a college dropout who primarily spoke a French dialect for the first dozen years of his life, Kerouac became one of the most recognized literary figures of the 20th century. With his love for the written word, maybe it’s not amazing that Kerouac overcame a language barrier before finding success, but it is stunning that his frequent visits to prostitutes and rowdy bar fights didn’t kill him first.

A transient from birth, Kerouac’s family moved frequently during his formative years, a theme he carried throughout his entire life and into his well-known book, "On the Road." Kerouac dropped out of Columbia University, was discharged from the Navy, and never managed to hold a steady job or a stable relationship. Miles says it was often those unstable relationships which provided the background for much of Kerouac's work. Whether it was an interracial love affair or his emotionally damaged friend who turned to homosexual activities, all seemed to find themselves as subjects in Kerouac’s writings.

And while Miles says Kerouac had many friends he could count on, he was rarely there to return the favor. He slung anti-Semitic names at his part-time lover and fan Allen Ginsberg, ran away from a child proven to be his, and when he wasn’t drunk -- a rare event -- he took sex, money, and shelter from anyone who would provide it.

With his liberal sexual practices and desire to be free of responsibility, Kerouac would appear to have plenty in common with the generation of hippies which followed, but he actually shared little. This insightful book shows how Kerouac was a right-wing Republican and an ardent supporter of Senator Joe McCarthy -- the man responsible for ruining the lives of many talented artists through the "Red Scare" in the 1950s.

The primary focus of "Jack Kerouac - King of the Beats" rests on Kerouac as the center of the "Beat Generation," though Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and others in his peer group get plenty of attention. The reader gets a full picture of the late nights, sexual activity, and all-night chat sessions which dominated the lives of the "Beats" during the 1940s to early 1960s.

Josh Zelman works with CNNewsStand. This is his second book review for CNN Interactive.