Though he never published a book during his life, Neal Cassady was one of the main inspirations for the Beat Generation. He's the basis of the Dean Moriarty character in Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," ...

Each book purports to speak for a younger generation that Kerouac has dubbed “beat” and Birmingham, with Fitzgeraldian effulgence, likes to think of as “blazing.” Jugs of Martinis.