Off the Road: Twenty Years with Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg - Paperback

by Carolyn Cassady (Author)

"Rich with gossip, historically significant photographs, intimate memories, unpublished letters." (The New York Times)

This memoir by the woman at the center of the Beat movement is "a great book as well as a wonderful autobiography." (The Washington Post Book World)

Written by the woman who loved them all--as wife of Cassady, lover of Kerouac, and friend of Ginsberg--this riveting and intimate memoir spans one of the most vital eras in twentieth-century literature and culture, including the explosive successes of Kerouac's On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl, the flowering of the Beat movement, and the social revolution of the 1960s.

Artist, writer, and designer Carolyn Cassady reveals a side of Neal Cassady rarely seen--that of husband and father, a man who craved respectability, yet could not resist the thrills of a wilder, and ultimately more destructive, lifestyle.

"To the familiar history of the Beat generation, Carolyn Cassady adds a proprietary chapter marked with newness, self-exposure, love and poignancy." (Publishers Weekly)

"A poignant recollection--truthful, coarse, and inviting--teeming with the spirit of the men who inspired and symbolized the dreams of a generation." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Author Biography

CAROLYN CASSADY was born in Michigan, graduated from Bennington College, Vermont, and earned her MA in fine Arts and Theater Arts from the University of Denver. While at Denver, she met Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, and in 1948 she and Cassady married in San Francisco.