Contemporary / American English (Available April 2008) One of the most famous American books of the century. Love, jazz, and excitement! These are all part of Sal Paradise's adventures on the road with wild friend Dean Moriarty, and their crazy companions, as they travel across the USA.

Following the explosive energy of On the Road comes The Dharma Bums in which Kerouac charts the spiritual quest of a group of friends in search of Dharma or Truth. Ray Smith and his friend Japhy, along with Morley the yodeller, head off into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude and experience the Zen way of life. But in wildly bohemian San Francisco, with its poetry jam sessions, marathon drinking bouts and experiments in 'yabyum', they find the ascetic route distinctly hard to follow.

Standing on a train as it rushes past fields of cactus; witnessing his first bullfight in Mexico, high on opium; meditating in Tangiers; or falling in love with Montmartre — Kerouac's travels reveal both the endless diversity of human life and his own particular philosophy of self-fulfillment.