Learn about the era. The Beat Generation is generally considered the time period that falls between the late 1950s and early 1960s. It describes a group of American writers that came into fame during this period, the cultural and social movement that they wrote about and the counter-culture (beatniks) they inspired. The novel "Go" by John Holmes is the considered one of the first novels ever written depicting the Beat Generation and is a good starting point for anyone who wishes to learn more about this movement.
Learn about the writers. The best known writers of the Beat Generation are: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassady, Herbert Huncke, Peter Orlovsky and John Holmes. Specific members of the San Francisco Renaissance and the Black Mountain poets are often included in this group as well, but most regard these as three separate literary movements and therefore not to be included here.
Read canonized Beat literature. The most well known pieces produced during this period were Ginsberg's "How!", Kerouac's "On the Road" and Burroughs's "Naked Lunch."
These novels are essential reading materials for anyone who has the desire to learn about Beat literature.
Identify characteristics of the genre. After reading some of the work produced during this period, readers should be able to identify key characteristic of the Beat literature such as a permissive attitude towards sex and drugs, lenience towards Eastern spiritual philosophies, poverty, communal living and an anarchic expression of individualism