The Beat writers faced a significant obstacle to publication: their lifestyle and the writing that reflected it flew in the face of convention and thus distanced them from the conservative publishing establishment. Writers frustrated by the lack of acceptance by larger publishers created their own underground or “little” magazines and small presses. For many writers of the Beat era, publication in magazines such as Robert Creeley’s Black Mountain Review, Gilbert Sorrentino’s Neon magazine, or LeRoi Jones’s Yugen was the first appearance of their work in print. The major small presses devoted to publishing works by these writers were City Lights (started by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights bookstore), Grove Press (purchased in 1951 by Barney J. Rosset, Jr.), and New Directions (started by James Laughlin).

The...