WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE CULT OF ROCK 'N' ROLL is an exciting nonfiction work by Casey Rae—author, commentator, music industry executive, musician, and professor at Georgetown University and Berklee College of Music. Part biography and part sonic travelogue, this is the story of how one of America’s most colorful and controversial literary figures became the secret architect of rock ‘n’ roll. Order US hardcover now! US paperback edition available for pre-order (release on Oct. 2021).

The reviews are in!

"There's a brilliant idea behind Casey Rae's William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll, which is that if you simply follow Burroughs through the rock 'n' roll years you'll see him achieve a flickering ubiquity--lurking here, eavesdropping there, photobombing the whole parade. It becomes a kind of alternative history." ― New York Times Published On: 2019-05-24

"Melding personal reflections with scholarly research and interviews with those close to Burroughs, Rae has unearthed a trove of information sure to shake the foundation of even the most die-hard Burroughs junkie or rock fanatic." ― Billboard Published On: 2019-06-10

"[Rae] writes with the passion of a teenager discovering new sounds, and the control and self-assuredness of a seasoned academic…William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll celebrates not only the gifted mind and bizarre life of a writer who changed literature forever with his magic and ideas; it also finally gives him the place he deserves in the pantheon of rock and roll." ― NPR Published On: 2019-06-12

"Rae meticulously details the connections [between Burroughs and arty rockers]…The book is at its best when tracing the lyric and sonic collages of art rock and its offshoots to Burroughs's groundbreaking use of literary cut-ups--the snipping and resassembling of texts to form new texts." ― Washington Post Published On: 2019-06-21

"Rae’s account is compelling, capturing the strangeness of Burroughs’s itinerant lifestyle, his bizarre obsessions (guns and the occult, mostly) and his Herculean appetite for drugs." ― The Guardian Published On: 2020-11-21

"Maybe more rock stars romanticized his life and addiction than actually read his books, and some tried "to boost their own hipness through association," but Rae builds a convincing case that Burroughs has been underacknowledged in rock history. [Rae's book] nudges a legendary legacy from the cultural margins toward the mainstream." ― Kirkus

"Casey Rae has uncovered a vast, vast number of links between Burroughs and the music world, and he has put together an extraordinary book…will inform and delight anyone interested in the Beat icon." ― Beatdom Published On: 2019-04-11

"[Rae's] focus on Burroughs' inspiring connections to literary rock stars of exceptional talent and renown makes for a welcome addition to the Burroughs shelf." ― Booklist Published On: 2019-05-19

"A fluid, wide-ranging biography of influence…Essential reading for fans of Burroughs, Bowie, Reed, or Smith." ― Library Journal Published On: 2019-03-19

"Casey Rae tells the whole story of a heroin addict who refused to hide his homosexuality during a time of saccharine conformity writ large across the American cultural landscape." ― Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Published On: 2019-05-28

"William S. Burroughs was as much a quiet rock star as he was an artist or a writer. His inroads into audio, spoken word, and music created paths that we still follow. Casey Rae's book is a labor of love that offers a map to understanding Burroughs's complex relationship to music and other art forms." -- Chris Stein, co-founder of Blondie

Also available in Italian, French, German, and UK editions.

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The story begins with William Burroughs’ early days in St. Louis, Missouri, and follows him through the eight decades of his life, focusing on his relationships with and impact on such iconic musicians as Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, and many more.