The Beat Generation freed American arts and letters from the ivy-covered shackles of academia. The names of its primary figures are familiar as old relatives: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassady. But though they may be less known to us, the women writers, artists, and muses were making history of their own. This text of biographies and writings chronicle the creative and rebellious women who broke from tradition and joined the best minds of their generation.