Better Books Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter-Culture & the New Avant-Garde

The legendary independent London bookstore Better Books on the Charing Cross Road was the hub for Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi, John Latham, Jeff Nuttall, Bob Cobbing, Barry Miles, Gustav Metzger, and countless others, for their ideas and approaches to art, film, literature, and activism. With its unique range of books, offbeat events, poetry readings, film screenings, and happenings, Better Books became the hot spot of London’s 1960s counter-culture scene. Now, more than fifty years later, this book is the first to examine this special historic moment. Combining previously unpublished texts, documents, and photographs with the voices of the protagonists who authored this revolution, this volume offers a comprehensive history of what really happened during those exceptional years at Better Books.