A Beat Legend's Albums Available Once More

His new memoir is called When I was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School. As a teenager, Kashner left his comfortable suburban life on Long Island, N.Y. and became the first student to attend the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colo. Kasher's teachers were the great beat writers William Burroughs, Allan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Kerouac. Kashner is also the author of a novel, Sinatraland, as well as three non-fiction books. He is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair.

The second half of a two-part interview with historian Ann Charters. She's spent 30 years studying the literature of Beat movement writers such as William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. She's the editor of a new compilation called "The Portable Beat Reader" (published by Viking).

The first of a two-part interview with historian Ann Charters. She's spent 30 years studying the literature of Beat movement writers such as William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. She's the editor of a new compilation called "The Portable Beat Reader" (published by Viking). Today, Charters discusses writer William Burroughs, his seminal novel, "Naked Lunch," and its new film adaptation. Tomorrow, Charters talks about her work with Jack Kerouac and the larger significance of the Beat movement.