Poets on the Peaks Hardcover – April 3, 2002

In his first book, John Suiter has produced a work that contributes significantly to the literature on early development of the Beat literary movement and to understanding the disparate characters of Snyder, Whalen, and Kerouac. Using the common experience of all three men serving as fire lookouts in the Northern Cascades in the early to mid 1950's, the author evokes portraits of how each writer was influenced by wilderness and the isolation of a fire lookout, and how each used the experience in his work. Drawing from recent interviews with Snyder and Whalen and others who knew them during the early 1950's, from previously unpublished letters and journals, and from extensive close readings of all three writers, the author crafts a portrait of the evolution of a literary movement, of a wilderness ethic, and perhaps unintentionally, the devolution of Kerouac contrasted against the focus and dedication of Snyder and Whalen. The book is illustrated with photographs of the fire lookouts and their locales.

This is the perfect companion to Jack Kerouac's classic novel, offering a wealth of information, fascinating stories, and gorgeous photographs about the world chronicled in that novel's pages. But it offers so much more -- a richer understanding of Gary Snyder & Philip Whalen, as well as their poetic work, and an in-depth look at the times & experiences that shaped all three writers. There are countless books about the Beats, many of them quite good indeed ... but this is surely one of the best. The author truly knows & loves his subjects, without being blinded by any need for glossy hagiography. It's as honest a book as you'll find about these three remarkable men & their times. A very enthusiastic recommendation!

Much has been written about Beat writers but this is a really special take. Telling Snyder and Kerouac's story through their fire tower experiences gave me a better appreciation for their work send the era. A great bit of cultural history.

It's used no doubt, my girlfriend loves it

I read this book avidly even though I do not consider the three principals, nor the Beat movement, to have made a significant contribution to American letters. This is a very distinguished study, produced after prodigious legwork. Mr. Suiter interviewed many individuals who were probably not easy to find. Some were only a few years from death, and but for this book, their intimate knowledge and insights would have been taken to the grave.Snyder comes across as the most focused, most brilliant, most craftsmanlike, and most all-round competent of the three. Had he chosen a conventional career track, he could well have been America's most distinguished anthropologist of the twentieth century. There is a very extensive analysis of his ludicrous but frustrating blacklisting during the McCarthy era. Americans cannot be reminded too often of the vileness of that episode in our history.Whalen seems a very singular individual, amiable, expressing himself in intriguing and original ways. I intend to read a collection of interviews with him. Although Kerouac's character and life are well-documented in the literature I learned many new things about that tormented individual.As a senior and Oregon native, the reminiscences of the culture in the timber counties of the Old PNW were intensely poignant for me. Many reminiscences are almost unbelievable today---San Francisco as working-class and affordable, Mexico safe for gringo down-and-outers, hitchhiking across country on a routine basis, often travelling a thousand miles just to touch creative bases with a friend. A great strength of this study is how these creative individuals interacted with each other and with ordinary folks.Very extensive annotations and bibliography. No index. A definitive study for those interested in West Coast artistic movements post-war. Beautifully bound and illustrated---a rare coffee-table book dense with scholarly information.

This book pulls wandering, mountains, poetic experience and fire towers all together. For some of the reviewers, this book is a document about the Beats. For me it was transportation into an amazing fellowship and inspiration to get outside, be poetic and not to be afraid when you are alone in a room on top of a mountain and can't see out the windows for all the clouds. You can, instead, pick up a brush and start working on your calligraphy. Wow. Awesome. How can you feel trapped when you have vast expanses within you to explore? Yes, it's about a lot including the vastness inside and out. Thanks to the author and these guys, especially Gary Snyder, for inspiration.

John Suiter's work on the founding fathers of Beat poetry and prose is a marvelous read. Suiter takes us along the trail through post war America and ties together the Beat poets, Jack Kerouac, McCarthyism, San Francisco and the North Cascades Forest Service Fire Lookout system of the 1950's. Imagine the poet/Zen Buddhist Gary Snyder being blacklisted from working for the Forest Service! Do you want to know how Jack Kerouac got the idea for his Dharma Bums work? What was it like spending a month and a half completely alone on top of a mountain in the Pacific Northwest, looking for the telltale smoke of a developing forest fire? Do you know what a "lightning stool" is, what you do with it and would you like to see a photograph of one? What was it like being at the famous Six Gallery poetry reading in 1955 when Allen Ginsberg first read "Howl"? If these questions interest you, or if you want to know about the origins of Beat writings-this is the book to get. Author Suiter launches the reader away through Old Mexico to visit with young Robert Mitchum as Christ in a glass coffin and William "Junky" Burroughs, up through Yosemite to camp with Kerouac and Snyder, a stop in San Francisco at City Lights Bookstore and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and finally Japan and Hozomeen, and the Void from Desolation. A delightful Masterpiece of fact and photographs!