A collector's edition of five works by the late Beat Generation classic writer combines the eminent "On the Road" with the novels, "The Dharma Bums," "The Subterraneans," "Tristessa," and "Lonesome Traveler."

Jack Kerouac's On the Road remains electrifying in its thirst for experience and its defiant rebuke of American conformity. The Dharma Bums (1958), at once an exploration of Buddhist spirituality and an account of the Bay Area poetry scene, is notable for its thinly veiled portraits of Kerouac's acquaintances, including Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Kenneth Rexroth. The Subterraneans (1958) recounts a love affair set amid the bars and bohemian haunts of San Francisco. Tristessa (1960) is a melancholy novella describing a relationship with a prostitute in Mexico City. Lonesome Traveler (1960) collects travel essays that evoke journeys in Mexico and Europe, and concludes with an elegiac lament for the lost world of the American hobo. Also included are selections from Kerouac's journal, which provide a perspective on his early impressions of material eventually incorporated into On the Road.