Allen Ginsberg was a Jewish American poet, born June 3, 1929. His poetry vigorously opposed themes such as militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem "Howl," in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. In his early years Allen was born into a Jewish family in Newark New Jersey, his father Louis Ginsberg was a published poet and high school teacher. Ginsberg's mother, Naomi Ginsberg, suffered from a psychological illness that was never properly diagnosed. He was also an active member of the Communist Party and took Ginsberg and his brother Eugene Ginsberg to secret Communist meetings. Ginsberg's mother often made up bedtime stories with strong communist ideas such as: "The good king came out of his castle and, he saw the suffering workers and healed them.'" Ginsberg was equally critical of his father. "My father went around the house," Allen once said, "reciting Emily Dickinson and Longfellow under his breath or attacking T.S. Eliot for...