Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized throughout the 1950s. The central elements of Beat culture are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of American and Eastern religions, the rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration.
Ed Piskor
In 2009 Piskor collaborated with Pekar on the graphic book "The Beats: A Graphic History". The book was published in the UK by Souvenir Press Ltd and drew plaudits from Studs Terkel: “"The Beats" is as fresh and pertinent as the latest scholarly history, only far more entertaining.” "The Beats" tells the story of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and John Clellon Holmes who became known as The Beat Generation. This cultural revolution is seen through the eyes of the movement's key figures and its minor characters including Diane di Prima, Carolyn Cassady, Philip Lamantia, and others. The startlingly original graphic non-fiction work was highly praised in "Vanity Fair": “Editor Paul Buhle’s graphic history "The Beats" — with riffs from cats such as Harvey Pekar and Trina Robbins — burns like a Roman candle.”