David Stanford – författare

THAT WAS THEN "Once you''ve got Baghdad, it''s not clear what you do with it. It''s not clear what kind of government you put in place. How much credibility is that government going to have if it''s set up by the U.S. military?" --Dick Cheney, 1991MIND-SET"F*** Saddam. We''re taking him out." --George W. Bush, to three U.S. senators, March 2002WMD"If the president wants to go to war, our job is to find the intelligence to allow him to do so." --Alan Foley, director, CIA Weapons Intelligence, to staff, December 2002THE PLAN"There was no guidance for restoring order in Baghdad, creating an interim government, hiring government and essential services employees, and ensuring that the judicial system was operational." --3rd Infantry Division''s official after-action reviewINSURGENCY"I really qualify it as militarily insignificant. They are very small. They are very random. They are very ineffective." --Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, June 18, 2003REALITY"Does [the Iraq war strategy] make America safer?" --Sen. John Warner"I don''t know, actually." --Gen. David Petraeus, in Senate testimony, September 11, 2007

The first collection of letters between the two leading figures of the Beat movement Writers and cultural icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are the most celebrated names of the Beat Generation, linked together not only by their shared artistic sensibility but also by a deep and abiding friend­ship, one that colored their lives and greatly influenced their writing. Editors Bill Morgan and David Stanford shed new light on this intimate and influential friendship in this fascinating exchange of letters between Kerouac and Ginsberg, two thirds of which have never been published before. Commencing in 1944 while Ginsberg was a student at Columbia University and continuing until shortly before Kerouac''s death in 1969, the two hundred letters included in this book provide astonishing insight into their lives and their writing. While not always in agreement, Ginsberg and Kerouac inspired each other spiritually and creatively, and their letters became a vital workshop for their art. Vivid, engaging, and enthralling, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters provides an unparalleled portrait of the two men who led the cultural and artistic movement that defined their generation.