Stop me if you have heard this one before.

Somebody writes a book, some other people don't like it.

Maybe they even try to keep everyone from reading that book.

And then the controversy over the book goes on to help it sell about a bajillion copies.

In this case, we are talking about a specific book.

In 1957, when writer Alan Ginsberg's book Howell was the subject of a huge obscenity lawsuit.

The book was considered so obscene that a court was asked to decide whether it should be

removed from store shelves immediately.

Here is Alan Ginsberg reading from the poem of the same name.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked,

dragging themselves through the Negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.

Angel hated it.

Throughout the book, Ginsberg explores in graphic detail how deeply messed up his generation

was by the effects of both World War II and poverty.

And his position was, you know, when the government arrest you for poetry, everybody

wants to read that dirty book.

And he sold tens of thousands of them because of the vibe that goes with, oh my god, what's

the buzz with that, you know?

That is Jerry Simino, a longtime fan of Ginsberg's work, who along with his wife owns and operates

the Beat Museum in San Francisco.

Ultimately, after a trial, a judge ruled that Howell had redeeming social value, meaning

it was not obscene, but a work of art.

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