Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (Penguin Modern Classics)

Jack Kerouac was an American novelist, writer, poet and artist. Along with William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, he is amongst the best known of the writers (and friends) known as the Beat Generation. Kerouac spent many of the years between 1947 and 1951 on the road, inspiring the partly autobiographical and greatly acclaimed novel On the Road. Kerouac's search for a life worth living in the 1950's led him to recreational drug use and to travel, not only across North America but throughout the world. In 1954, Kerouac discovered Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible at the San Jose library, which marked the beginning of his immersion into Buddhism. Kerouac's work was popular, but received little critical acclaim during his lifetime. Today, he is considered an important and influential writer who inspired others, including Tom Robbins, Lester Bangs and Ken Kesey, and musicians such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Morrissey.