By the time Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death on the banks of the Hudson River in 1944, it was clear that the hard-partying teenage companion to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs might need to reevaluate his life. A two-year stint in a reformatory straightened out the wayward youth but did little to curb the wild ways of his friends.

MANIA tells the story of this remarkable group—who strained against the conformity of postwar America, experimented with drink, drugs, sex, jazz, and literature, and yearned to be heard, to remake art and society in their own libertine image. What is more remarkable than the manic lives they led is that they succeeded—reshaping their own generation and inspiring those that followed. From the breakthrough success of Kerouac's On the Road to the controversy and trial over Ginsberg's Howl, the
counterculture was about to go mainstream for the first time, and America would never be the same again.

Ronald Collins and David Skover—authors of the highly acclaimed The Trials of Lenny Bruce—bring the stories of these artists, hipsters, hustlers, and maniacs to life in a dramatic, fast-paced, and often darkly comic narrative.