Ginsberg was a leading poet of the Beat Generation.

His poem Howl was the subject of a 1957 obscenity trial, in which the judge ruled that the work was not obscene, a landmark victory for free expression.

• His collection The Fall of America won the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry.

• He was a prominent anti–Vietnam War activist and an early advocate for gay rights.

His bibliography includes: • Howl and Other Poems (1956) • Kaddish and Other Poems (1961) • The Fall of America (1973)