During World War Two a group of friends in New York would begin a cultural revolution. Over the following decades Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs would write their own masterpieces but taken together, as the Beats, they would also become a focal point for a literary explosion and a generation of revolution.

Their story is explored through the graphic art of a variety of artists. The artwork in The Beats is as vibrant as the writing and lifestyles of the Beat movement itself, and is a tribute to a generation in a form and style as original as its subject. The Beats explores the political roots of the movement and its influence on the demand for women's rights, as well as its influence on other cultural forms: art and music. Among the contributors Harvey Pekar created American Splendor, his graphic autobiography, which was drawn by Ed Piskor among others. Peter Kuper draws for Mad magazine while Jeffrey Lewis is a singer-songwriter, as well as an artist.