Understanding Jack Kerouac introduces readers to what Matt Theado calls Kerouac's "unwieldy accretion of published work"-fiction, poetry, nonfiction, selected letters, religious writing, and "true-story novels." Presenting this cultural icon of the Beat Generation primarily as a writer rather than as a social rebel or media celebrity, Theado elucidates the reasons Kerouac's reputation has outlived disparaging beatnik associations and why his writings continue to attract an expanding readership. Theado takes a book-by-book approach to the sometimes-confusing canon and develops a framework for...