Iron Curtain Journals

"In 1965, Ginsberg travels to Cuba, where ignoring all advice, he behaves in his usual wonderfully provocative way and i... (more)

"In 1965, Ginsberg travels to Cuba, where ignoring all advice, he behaves in his usual wonderfully provocative way and is deported under armed guard to, of all places, Prague. This leads to a remarkable and moving journey through the Iron Curtain countries, to Russia (the land of his heritage), to Poland and the Warsaw ghetto and to Auschwitz. When he returns to Prague, he runs afoul of the government when local students crown him "The King of May" and tour him around in a flatbed truck. He's beaten in the streets a few days later, arrested, and deported yet again: this time to swinging England, where he hangs out with Bob Dylan, meets the Beatles, and helps stage a massive international poetry reading at the Royal Albert Hall (where William S. Burroughs is piped in long distance over the P.A.)"-- (less)