Morgan, Allen Ginsberg's literary executor, sorted through almost 4,000 of the poet's letters dating from the early 1940s to Ginsberg's death in 1997. From these he selected 165 that he feels are representative of the man and his beliefs and concerns. For those who only know Ginsberg as a Beat poet and social radical, the literary allusions in the early letters will be surprising. The recipients include Jack Kerouac, his long-time friend, Lionel Trilling, Robert Creeley, Mark Van Doren and even Bill Clinton. There are letters to the New York Times on political and literary issues and, in his later years, pleas to legislators not to cut funding for the arts. From topics as personal as a recommendation of medicine for dysentery to Kerouac, to his excitement at discovering the painter Francis Bacon, to frank comments on his own work and that of others, the letters are captivating. Through them we see not only into the mind of a seminal poet but also into the society that shaped him. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)