The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971

What does it mean to bear witness to a nation in crisis—to chronicle the beauty and brutality of America during its most turbulent years? Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971 is one of the essential documents of the Vietnam War era, a National Book Award-winning collection that captures the flux of consciousness during what Ginsberg called the "Automated Electronic War years." Composed on cross-country journeys, tape-recorded in cars and buses, scribed by hand in motels and airports, these poems are raw, immediate, prophetic—a real-time chronicle of America's descent into violence and the poet's struggle to transform rage and grief into vision. This is Ginsberg at his most ambitious and uncompromising, following Planet News with a book that refuses to look away from the horror while never losing sight of the sacred.

At first glance, these poems might seem chaotic, their language fragmented and their imagery hallucinatory. But Ginsberg is not writing conventional verse; he is creating what he called "auto poesy"—spontaneous composition that captures the mind in motion, the flux of perception as America speeds past the window. The poems ask: How do we live in a country waging an unjust war? How do we mourn our dead—Neal Cassady, Che Guevara, the countless Vietnamese civilians? What does it mean to love America while condemning its actions? And how can poetry become a form of resistance, a way of saying "no" to empire and "yes" to the human? Ginsberg offers no easy consolations, but he shows us a path: to stay awake, to keep moving, to bear witness with unflinching honesty and compassion.

For readers seeking contemplative wisdom in the Beat tradition, The Fall of America offers a profound meditation on consciousness, politics, and the poet's responsibility to speak truth. This collection includes landmark poems like "Beginning of a Poem of These States," "Elegy for Neal Cassady," "On Neal's Ashes," "Please Master," "Hum Bom!" and "September on Jessore Road." Many were composed on an Uher tape recorder purchased with Bob Dylan's help, capturing Ginsberg's voice in real time as he crossed the American landscape. This is a book for anyone who loves poetry that engages with history, who seeks to understand the 1960s at their most raw and visionary, who believes that poetry can be a form of political and spiritual action. It's a reminder that the greatest poetry does not turn away from suffering but transforms it into song.

What You'll Discover

• Allen Ginsberg's National Book Award-winning masterpiece
• Chronicle of America 1965-1971: Vietnam War, moon landing, 1968 Democratic Convention
• Spontaneous "auto poesy" composed on tape recorder during cross-country journeys
• Elegies for Neal Cassady and Che Guevara, condemnation of the Vietnam War
• Includes "Elegy for Neal Cassady," "Please Master," "Hum Bom!" "September on Jessore Road"
• Raw, prophetic meditation on consciousness, politics, and bearing witness

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century and a central figure of the Beat Generation. His landmark poem "Howl" (1956) revolutionized American poetry with its prophetic voice and unflinching honesty. The Fall of America, composed during the Vietnam War years and published in 1972, won the National Book Award and represents Ginsberg's most sustained engagement with American politics and consciousness. Influenced by William Blake, Walt Whitman, and Buddhist meditation practice, Ginsberg pioneered a spontaneous, tape-recorded poetics that captured the mind in motion. His work remains essential for anyone seeking to understand the intersection of poetry, politics, and spiritual practice in modern America.

Perfect for: Readers seeking Beat Generation poetry and counterculture literature, students of Allen Ginsberg and 1960s American poetry, those drawn to political and prophetic poetry, anyone interested in the Vietnam War era and American consciousness, admirers of spontaneous composition and experimental poetics, seekers exploring the intersection of poetry and activism, students of Buddhist-influenced American literature, those interested in LGBTQ+ poetry and queer spirituality, readers who love Kerouac, Cassady, and the Beats, anyone seeking poetry that bears witness to history and transforms suffering into vision.

City Lights Books paperback edition. Ginsberg's National Book Award-winning chronicle of America 1965-1971—offering raw, prophetic poems that bear witness to war, loss, and the struggle for consciousness during the nation's most turbulent years.