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Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century: Selected Poems 1961-85
“If you want to know what the ’60s really were about, you’ll find out between [these] covers.”—The Kansas City Star
This American Book Award–winning collection begins with Edward Sanders' famous first "Poem from Jail," written in 1961 during his incarceration for disrupting the christening of a nuclear submarine, and covers the twenty tumultuous years that followed. Now back in print, this vital addition to all collections of contemporary American poetry and culture chronicles Sanders’ literary, political, and rock 'n' roll adventures, as well as the joys of life in rural Woodstock, New York.
A legend of the American counterculture, Edward Sanders’ recent books include Poems for New Orleans and Let’s Not Keep Fighting the Trojan War.
- GenresPoetry
270 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1987
About the author
Ed Sanders
104 books81 followersEd Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.
Sanders was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of Missouri University in 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City’s Greenwich Village. He wrote his first major poem, "Poem from Jail," on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting against nuclear proliferation in 1961.
In 1962, he founded the avant-garde journal, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts. Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore (147 Avenue A in what was then the Lower East Side), which became a gathering place for bohemians and radicals.
Sanders graduated from New York University in 1964, with a degree in Classics. In 1965, he founded The Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg. The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984.
In 1971, Sanders wrote The Family, a profile of the events leading up to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He obtained access to the Manson Family by posing as a "Satanic guru-maniac and dope-trapped psychopath."
As of 2006, Sanders lives in Woodstock, New York where he publishes the Woodstock Journal with his wife of over 36 years, the writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders. He also invents musical instruments including the Talking Tie, the microtonal Microlyre and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
Sanders was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of Missouri University in 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City’s Greenwich Village. He wrote his first major poem, "Poem from Jail," on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting against nuclear proliferation in 1961.
In 1962, he founded the avant-garde journal, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts. Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore (147 Avenue A in what was then the Lower East Side), which became a gathering place for bohemians and radicals.
Sanders graduated from New York University in 1964, with a degree in Classics. In 1965, he founded The Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg. The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984.
In 1971, Sanders wrote The Family, a profile of the events leading up to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He obtained access to the Manson Family by posing as a "Satanic guru-maniac and dope-trapped psychopath."
As of 2006, Sanders lives in Woodstock, New York where he publishes the Woodstock Journal with his wife of over 36 years, the writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders. He also invents musical instruments including the Talking Tie, the microtonal Microlyre and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 5, 2019
Not exactly my cup of tea, although the poems aren't altogether bad.
October 18, 2019
3 1/2 stars
December 13, 2020
There are some really brilliant, poignant and funny poems in this volume. I'm not really sure how this writer got past me all these years, but he's definitely worthwhile in my opinion, especially for folks who look back to the Beats for wisdom and inspiration.
April 9, 2012
A superb collection of poems by the great undefeated poet-activist-musical disruptor of the Sixties.
March 13, 2008
outrageous not reccomended for wimen
July 31, 2011
This has Ed Sanders 1st poem in it which he wrote on toilet paper in jail after he was arrested trying to swim out onto a nuclear submarine at a demonstration.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews