Family Business Selected Letters Between a Father and Son

A touching look into the heart and family of one of America's greatest poets. As a literary portrait of a father and son, little can match the eloquence and honesty of this collection of letters, written between Allen Ginsberg and his father, Louis, spanning the years 1944 to 1976. Their correspondence is filled with affection, respect, and a healthy dose of argumentative zeal-they debate every major political and artistic issue that faced America in over three decades of extraordinary change. But the letters also tell of a strong bond of intimacy and affection between the two, revealing just how crucial that closeness was to the development of Allen Ginsberg's art.

Michael Schumacher wrote Dharma Lion, the acclaimed biography of Allen Ginsberg, and is also the author of the biographies of Eric Clapton, Phil Ochs, and Francis Ford Coppola. He began researching Family Business in 1994, when Ginsberg first agreed to the project.