Lawrence Ferlinghetti, according to his FBI file, is a "Beatnik Rabble Rouser." Now I never thought that the Freedom of Information Act would advance literary studies, but after reading Endless Life, Ferlinghetti's own selection of his poetry from eight books and work in progress, I am reminded of the important conjunction between his poetry and the state. At home in the West Coast anarcho-pacifist tradition of Kenneth Rexroth and Kenneth Patchen, Ferlinghetti has written over the last quarter century a public poetry to challenge the guardians of the political and social status quo for the souls of his fellow citizens. A rebel rather than a revolutionary, Ferlinghetti has been generous in his support to the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements…. (p. 79)

But Ferlinghetti is more than a political conscience warning his brother and sister poets of unwitting collaboration and guilt by complicity. He is the self-described "Director of Alienation...