In 1997, America lost two of its leading literary lights just months apart: Allen Ginsberg & William S. Burroughs. Their passing was clearly the end of an age. In the wake of this generational shift, original Beat scholar John Tytell, along with noted photographer Mellon, offers a highly personal collection of intelligent essays & stunning photos that illuminate the phenomena that came to be known as the Beat Generation. Part literary criticism, part memoir, part photo collection, Paradise Outlaws is a book as unconventional as its subject. John Tytell, who was the first scholar to take the Beats seriously in his groundbreaking Naked Angels, offers an authoritative identification of the political & cultural contexts of the Beats & their major works. Forty-five photographs, works of art in themselves, offer candid portraits of not just a few writers but also the musicians, painters, filmmakers, scene makers, activists, & playwrights who helped shape America's avant-garde since the Beats exploded onto the scene in 1956--people like Ginsberg & Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, Hunter S. Thompson, Judith Malina, Patti Smith, Abbie Hoffman, & more.

Each photograph is accompanied by a pithy & anecdotal caption. Accessible yet scholarly, Paradise Outlaws offers new insights into the ever-expanding rubric of "Beat," resulting in an informative, entertaining, & absorbing photo album of the last American literary movement.