The Journal of Beat Studies is devoted entirely to the scholarly criticism of Beat Generation writing and writers. Its mandate is to provide readers with intelligent and penetrating criticism across the range of Beat writing, including fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, life writing, travel writing, and screenplay writing.

This volume's critical essays are rich in scope. One essay revitalizes the evolutionary place of the poet Kenneth Rexroth, archival research on Kerouac's ethnic and cultural origins, Ginsberg's committed engagement with the philosophical traditions of Indian civilization, and The Beat Interview is an archival oral history-published here for the first time-that brings new perspectives to the art scene that flourished around San Francisco's 6 Gallery.