An Ambiguous Utopia

Alan Kaufman (ed.)     1999     685p     6 x 9

“This sizable volume, edited by Alan Kaufman and S.A. Griffin, houses a raucous gathering of Beat poets, spoken word artists, slam poets, and other revolutionaries.

In forms ranging from the epistle through the manifesto to the hip-hop lyric, The Outlaw Bible presents over six hundred pages of countercultural writing divided into sections with titles like ‘Slammers’, ‘Meat Poets’, and ‘American Renegades’. The anthology also includes interview material, photographs, articles, and biographical information.

The eclectic mix of poets includes Ai, Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, David Trinidad, Diane di Prima, Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Sapphire, as well as those not traditionally thought of as poets in the literary sense (Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Janis Joplin), and writers who primarily wrote in alternate genres (Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor).”

$6-10