"In The Beats in Mexico, David Stephen Calonne provides a literary critic's reading of the countercultural movement's relationship with the country whose rich culture was slowly gaining appreciation in the U.S...Calonne's own attitude to the Beats is rather like [Margaret] Randall's attitude to Mexico--he examines the source material thoroughly and is admiring rather than adulatory...His detailed study demonstrates that though their work on Mexico was sometimes naive, the Beats were not callous appropriators--they were well-meaning apologists."
~Daniel Rey, Writer's Mosaic
"This erudite study gives a closely read account of that search for 'nostalgia and classical reference,' new shamanic forms of expression and vision-expanding experiences on newfound psychedelics. Through household names such as Ginsberg, and some less well-known men and women of the movement, David Stephen Calonne stitches together the influence of travels in Mexico on the imagination of the American counterculture."
~Guy Stevenson, Times Literary Supplement (TLS)
"This close study of Beat writers in the context of their experiences in Mexico is a revelation many times over. The author has plumbed the depths, discovering whole new dimensions in the US avant-garde, with an emphasis on women Beat writers long overdue. What we have here is a critical classic in the making, a must-read for anyone interested in the saga of the Beats."
~Paul Buhle, co-editor, with Harvey Pekar, of The Beats: A Graphic History
"Calonne takes readers on a much-needed tour through the complex, often surprising relationship between the Beats and Mexico, offering insight after insight into numerous writers and their works—a book the size of the Pyramid of Kukulcán."
~Steven Belletto, author of The Beats: A Literary History
"With The Beats in Mexico, David Stephen Calonne finally fills a critical gap in Beat Generation scholarship--tracing not only the influences of Mexico on the major Beat writers, but on their predecessors, followers, and contemporaries. We devoured this thoroughly-researched, beautifully written study. Highly recommended!"
"Calonne’s book brings together a mass of description, information, knowledge and quotation to form a wide-ranging compendium of Mexican connections across the Beat field. It should inspire scholars to examine in more depth a literary history too often chronicled in only the colourful but reductive terms of Beat biography."
~Oliver Harris, Professor of American Literature at Keele University and President of the European Beat Studies Network
