Howl on Trial

Forthcoming Books

Recently Released Books

Complete Catalog

How to Order Books

Manuscript Guidelines

Rights & Permissions

Desk & Review Copies

Contact Us

Howl on Trial
The Battle for Free Expression
Edited by Bill Morgan
ISBN 0-87286-479-0
Paperback, 224 pp
$14.95

The inside story of the publication and defense of Howl in correspondence, documents and photographs.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Howl and Other Poems, with nearly 1,000,000 copies in print, City Lights presents the story of editing, publishing, and defending the landmark poem within a broader context of obscenity issues and censorship of literary works.

The collection includes:

* The complete “The Howl Letters” — correspondence between Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, John Hollander, Richard Eberhart, Louis Ginsberg, and others – with first-person insight into Ginsberg’s thinking and the significance
of the poems to the author and his contemporaries.

* Ferlinghetti’s account of hearing “Howl” read at the Six Gallery, of editing the book, and of his court battle to defend its publication.

* A timeline of censorship in the U.S. that places the Howl case in the broader historical context of obscenity issues and censorship of literary works.

* Newspaper reportage, magazine essays, cartoons, photographs, and letters to the editor that illuminate the cultural climate of the mid-1950s, when sexual expression in print was suppressed.

* Excerpts from the trial transcript that show the brilliant criminal lawyer Jake Ehrlich in action.

* ACLU Defense Counsel Albert Bendich’s reflections on the Howl case, and his thoughts about challenges to Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

*A look at how the fight against censorship continues today in new forms.

"A fascinating assortment of material-newspaper articles, transcripts, photographs, letters from the principals, commentary-on the 1957 obscenity trial in San Francisco that pitted the 'people' against City Lights, the bookshop that published and sold Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems. A volume that will appeal to all who cherish their right to read uncensored the outpourings of the human heart." – Kirkus Reviews

"This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Howl and Other Poems, and to read the various volumes issued to celebrate the book's golden jubilee is to be reminded that half a century later, Ginsberg has remained an iconic countercultural figure . . . Howl and Other Poems was, of course, at the center of a landmark legal battle over obscenity (summaries of the battle and a collection of key documents relating to it are available in Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression.)" – Bookforum

Bill Morgan is the author of I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg The Beat Generation in San Francisco and The Beat Generation in New York.

Nancy J. Peters is the publisher of City Lights Books, co-author of Literary San Francisco and translator of Dreams of Dreams by Antonio Tabucchi.

City Lights Publishers Catalog by author:

All City Lights Books are available in the City Lights Bookstore (Map & Directions ) and at other fine bookstores around the country. You can also order these books directly from our web site, simply click on the "add to cart" button next to the book of your choice. All orders will be sent by U.S. 4th Class Mail. For expedited shipping, or international orders, please see our Ordering Information .