Lawrence Ferlinghetti On The Beat Poets and America's Political Harvest of Hate

In a 1984 interview Lawrence Ferlinghetti talks about  The beginning of the beat poets/writers and witnessing Reagan's global political agenda (Iran/Contra etc)  causing a "Harvest of Hate" around the world. Even how he saw the opportunity to experience America on the road as Kerouac did as vanishing Below are excerpts from the interview. 

"Kerouac's guru, his really big hero, as far as writers go was Thomas Wolfe. And that's what Kerouac and I had in common.  Thomas Wolfe's book,  Look Homeward Angel, a book for, out of the 1930s, was a direct inspiration for both of us and, it's a vision of America very similar to Kerouac's, except it's a 1930s, a 1920s vision of America. In Look, Homeward Angel, the hero sees America from the window, from a speeding train window, whereas in Kerouac, on the road, it's from a speeding automobile window." 
"And it's an America that no longer exists except in the small,  dusty, old Greyhound bus stations in small, lost towns out in middle America. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Ferlinghetti and Kerouac's hero Thomas Wolfe and Look Homeward Angel
• 1:30 The beginning of the poetry scene in SF Allen Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Kerouac and Burroughs.
• 3:16 Everything centered around City Lights Bookstore. All inspired by chaplin.
• 6:11 The division between Ferlinghetti and Kerouac over politics and Kerouac's move to conservative views
• 7:21 Reagan's policies including Iran/Contra creating a "Harvest of Hate" . The world's view of America.
• 8:49 The ability to go "On The Road" like Kerouac is vanishing today