The author of Hip: The History reveals the lessons of the original hipster bible, On the Road
Legions of youthful Americans have taken On the Road as a manifesto for rebellion and an inspiration to hit the road. But there is much more to the novel than that.
In Why Kerouac Matters, John Leland embarks on a wry, insightful, and playful discussion of the novel, arguing that it still matters because at its core it is a book that is full of lessons about how to grow up. Leland’s focus is on Sal Paradise, the Kerouac alter ego, who has always been overshadowed by his fictional running buddy Dean Moriarty. Leland examines the lessons that Paradise absorbs and dispenses on his novelistic journey to manhood, and how those lessons— about work and money, love and sex, art and holiness—still reverberate today. He shows how On the Road is a primer for male friendship and the cultivation of traditional family values, and contends that the stereotype of the two wild and crazy guys obscures the novel’s core themes of the search for atonement, redemption, and divine revelation. Why Kerouac Matters offers a new take on Kerouac’s famous novel, overturning many misconceptions about it and making clear the themes Kerouac was trying to impart.
“No one has written better and more intelligently about Kerouac.” —David Gates, Newsweek
“ An entertaining and insightful book . . . over and over Leland showed me something new, and just as important, something fun.” —The American Book Review
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Bestselling historian of the Civil War illuminates how Lincoln worked with—and often against—his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy and create the role of commander in chief as we know it.
