Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith

by John F. Szwed

“The first comprehensive biography of this hipster magus . . . [John Szwed] allows different sides of Smith’s personality to catch blades of sun. He brings the right mixture of reverence and comic incredulity to his task.” ―Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Grammy Award–winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed presents the first biography of Harry Smith, the brilliant eccentric who transformed twentieth century art and culture.

He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, had a front-row seat to a young Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, was admired by Susan Sontag, and was one of the first artists funded by Guggenheim Foundation. He was always broke, generally intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, “the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.”

In Cosmic Scholar , the Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century’s most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to his life in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society, or keep himself healthy or sober.

Exhaustively researched, energetically told, and complete with a trove of images, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue canonization of an American icon.

Includes black-and-white and color images

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction, Art, History, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

416 pages, Hardcover

Published August 22, 2023

Reviews

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well …spoiler alert… he dies at the end. Keels over sideways on his cot and says, “I’m dying… I’m dying…” and he does.

Harry Smith was an anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, artist, filmmaker, animator, painter, magus, seeker, and seer. He was all these personalities and affected if not altered the course of Pop Culture as everyone alive recognizes it.
Whatever cool notion you just had from that last hit off the reefer?
Harry thought of it first. He might not have actually done it but that’s just because he ran out of time.

If you’re familiar with Harry Smith then you really owe it to yourself to buy a copy of this for future reference.

If you’re into the birth of hipsterism from the Bohemians of the 20s-40s to the Beatniks, Hippies, Punks, (or whatever today’s manifestations are), you might want to read this for the gossip (Harry knew almost every important artist of the 20th century) or for the vast history of the Damned of America.

Someone asked me if this biography covers Harry’s multi-record box-set of American Folk and Blues songs dubbed from his own personal collection of rare, one-of-a-kind recordings and major record label releases of 78rpms - The Anthology Of American Folk Music.

Packaged along with the records was a booklet designed, written and illustrated with paintings, drawings, and collages all done by Harry. Of course Harry was living off Desoxyn, menthol cigarettes, marijuana and beer during this period.
This anthology would lead to the Folk Music boom of the late 1950s. Harry invited younger artists to take these songs and craft from their basic melodies and chord structures newer songs reflecting life in the mid-20th century as opposed to the original recordings.

The Anthology and Harry would have an enormous impact on a young Bob Dylan, whose entire early repertoire would consist of songs that were clever variations of the songs Harry had released much earlier.
Fully half if not two-thirds of this book concerns Harry’s work on the Anthology.

If you enjoy reading biographies of artists driven to drugs, alcohol, insanity because of their inner visions this one pays off.

I loved reading this book. Glad to own it. I wouldn’t have wanted to endure the presence of Harry Smith for fifteen minutes.
Time’s too short to spend on a speed freak polymath looking for a two dollar loan.

UPDATE: watched a documentary last night on Harry on YouTube with the voices of the folks who were there to take him in for medical assistance but he died before he got out of bed.

According to the two friends, Harry was chanting “I’m dying, I’m dying” like some aged adherent to Buddhism.
I disbelieve them. Harry was cool but he wasn’t that cool.

[Ari Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new biography by author John Szwed focuses on an elusive, mysterious character, of whom it would seem that only the testimonies of the people who knew him remain. However, his artistic imprint has remained in history, influencing other artists of greater renown. It is very likely that this book will give some much needed and overdue notoriety to Harry Smith, who in life, ironically, would seem to have sought anonymity. Making a timeline of Smith's life was hard work on the part of the author, as Smith left very few interviews or correspondence after his death, and the legacy he left us are his experimental short films, some of his paintings and, mainly, the great musical work of having compiled the famous and seminal Anthology of American Folk Music (for which he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991). It is for this type of work that he remains known today, but author Szwed also reminds us of the great anthropological work that Smith did at a very young age by collecting everything possible about American Indian tribes: from their music, dances, and crafts; research that, while not professional - since Smith never technically studied anthropology - influenced other researchers who studied these communities, which until that time, were not quite in academics' interest. Like many artists, Smith lived very close to poverty despite being awarded one of the first Guggenheim grants, and what he did to subsist was to borrow money from his artist friends, who were not doing so well financially either. Smith would stop eating in order to buy books that interested him, be it anthropology or occultism (a subject on which he became an expert), or to be able to buy vinyl albums, as his obsession as a collector encompassed many subjects. His inclination to know everything was because he believed in the theory that all artistic works were in one way or another influenced by each other and represented a unified culture, hence his disposition in trying to connect the different artistic methods, from tattoos to Ukrainian Easter eggs. His, apparently, scattershot interests were also reflected in his eccentric personality: he was prone to anger fits and over drinking, which made the people around him feel at the same time uncomfortable and in awe. The difficult task of obtaining testimonies from the people who knew Smith is accomplished by author Szwed, who has written biographies of off-the-radar characters before, and here he offers us a rich overview not only of Smith's wide-ranging interests but also of the state of experimental cinema, the nascent anthropology and the American art scene. While Smith might seem a difficult person to sympathize with, at the very least this biography should be read to learn about his many contributions to culture that influenced many more well-known figures such as Jonas Mekas, Bob Dylan, Stan Brakhage or Allen Ginsberg. ~

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Szwed's book 3-D animated the Harry Smith already residing rent-free in my mind. A remarkable human and a remarkable character. He has a lot to teach us, especially how to see and hear. No number of deaths can stop him.

[Jeffrey Bumiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolute pleasure to read. Cosmic Scholar is a riveting biography, I just couldn't put it down. Hats off to John Szwed as I imagine this was no easy task given the eccentricities of Harry Smith.

[Sean Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book because it describes rather than analyzes the anomaly of a human that was the bizarre and often difficult Harry Smith. I knew he made films but this biography widened my view of him as an archivist and anthropologist and fine artist , whose acquaintances in the Chelsea hotel and those of the Beat Generation explain somewhat, his being able to survive, despite his lifelong flirting with homelessness ( seemingly out of choice). I only wish his artistic process was explained in detail because it remains vague how some of the work was accomplished.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first question is how did I never hear of this guy! I have heard of everyone else in his circle of artists that he had a great influence on and he is the brains behind (and the curator and collector for ) the Anthology of American Folk Music. He was a budding anthropologist who seemed most comfortable living outside of and observing society. He was a savant in so many ways -- a collector, an experimental filmmaker, and hung out with Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Thelonious Monk, Robert Frank, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jonas Mekas, just to name a very few. He lived in many places from couch surfing to the Chelsea Hotel. He was almost like a zelig-like figure who was everywhere important and yet never really fit in. His battles with substance abuse ultimately derails him and alienates him from others. Yet, as much as he could be difficult sometimes, it was clear there were many (including Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Garcia) who took care of him financially to enable him to live the life he wanted. Again -how had I not heard of him? I am so glad this book is finally bringing his story to light. I recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

[Wampus Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the research and the great narrator on the audiobook. It’s an exhaustive biography and, yes, sometimes it’s exhausting because the subject is a whole mess of problems who tries to be elusive in facts to those who knew him. Is this book necessary to understand and contextualize his hand painted and scratched films or his archiving of old records? I don’t think so, but it was interesting.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book showed up on my “books to read” list, I’m not really sure why, I must have read an intriguing review. I had heard of Harry Smith but knew nothing about him or his weird, trippy art films, his obsessive Native American studies, or his multi-hour sound recordings of city noise. A genius? Quite possibly. Mentally ill/insane? A good bet, as even he seemed to realize, in his rambling words in a grant application. Yes, he got grants, multi-thousand dollar arts grants. I came away from this book with increased respect for Allen Ginsberg, who went above and beyond to care for and provide monetary support to Harry, who couldn’t work a job nor manage the money he constantly mooched off friends and strangers. For all his difficult and abrasive personality traits, Harry somehow attracted a group of people who cared about him and respected his abilities. I found the book interesting but it’s a dense, digressive tome, more scholarly than entertaining.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Smith was a complicated, eccentric, genius. This book does a good job documenting his strange and wonderful life. Smith was so knowledgeable about so many different things that it boggles my mind.

[Peter Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great nut!

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m folk enough to respect Harry Smith but not folk enough to want to be in a room with him or ever read this biography again

[Antonio Depietro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to hear about the biography of Harry Smith. His life from the outside seemed so complex and difficult, mysterious and legendary. I was excited because John Szwed is an incredible biographer. His book on Sun Ra is one of my all time favorites. So is "Cosmic Scholar." Somehow, Szwed comprehensively documented the life and work and character of Smith. Which is not easy because Smith is a mysterious and elusive man. His work with modern field anthropology, modern jazz and poetry, animation, experimental film and new cinema, serious record collecting, folk music, and much more. For such a recluse he also found himself around the most innovative artists and musicians in 20th century America. A true original!

[Carolyn Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

A well researched look into the life of a notorious and difficult genius. His work has influenced modern art in multiple disciplines, yet he remains largely unknown. Fascinating.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advance copy of this biography on a man who spent every second he could learning, sharing, or just living his life, and the people he influenced or inspired an a variety of different ways.

Some people just aren't made for these times. Going without a meal to buy an album that is rare. Recording Native American ceremonies and learning of the are of knots. Reading and hording bits of esoteric knowledge, and sharing it with out payment or credit. Sometimes it is even creating works of art in film and animation, looking ahead in these arts, while drawing from the past. Some of these people spend their lives on the fringe, lost to time and culture, sometimes even lost to themselves. Others find like people, other artists, creators, creatives and learn from and influence them. Sharing what they have learned from hard lessons, observation, even from psychedelics. Harry Smith was kind of both, remembered by those who knew him, forgotten sadly by most of the culture he helped create. The name probably didn't help, nor did his nature, which is a shame for Smith accomplished much in his lifetime. Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith by writer and educator John Szwed tells the life of this Renaissance man whose works influenced so many others.

Harry Everett Smith was born in Portland, Oregon to an unconventional kind of family, which soon located to the Seattle area of Washington. Smith was a sickly child, undersized and underweight, but grew up with plenty of books which opened him up to the world. Smith became interested in the Native American tribes in the area, and began to talk to members, becoming trusted enough to watch some ceremonies, and with a friend make recordings, and lists of generational knowledge. Unfamiliar with the word anthropology, Smith began investigating the field and soon took classes in college, which opened him up to music, especially different kinds of music, from China, Japan, American folk, whatever was different and new. Soon he was collecting and trading vinyl, keeping the best stuff for himself, and amassing quite a collection. Time in California gave him an interest in art, with animation and film work also intriguing him. A Guggenheim Grant brought him to New York, and when the grant ran out he made a deal with Folkway Records to create the Anthology of American Folk Music, one of the most influential musical collections of all times. And he was just getting started.

A fascinating biography about a person who only comes around once in a while, a polymath who was self taught in so many fields, that touched so many to follow that it really is incredible to read. Music, art, animation, film, occult studies, so many famous people. And yet because of his nature, Smith's influence has really never been addressed. I was familiar with the name from other biographies, but never really put together that this Harry Smith was really the same person. The biography is really very well done. I can't imagine the work the Szwed had to do, interviews, tracking down stories that Smith told that sometimes could be real, or a lot of the times sometimes not. Szwed has a very good style, writing about Smith's life in full, but never letting the narrative drag or just become a list of achievements. And of achievements there are many. Each page has something interesting, a fact, or an idea that Smith followed. A wonderfully written book about an extraordinary life.

Recommended for readers of all sorts of genres and interests. Frankly a lot of podcasts could be made off of this book. Occult, lost religions, Native American culture art, anthropology, animation, movies, even a list of Smith's books that he kept are interesting. A book also for people who enjoy biographies on people that are hard to categorize, and for readers who enjoy very well written biographies.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another addition to my collection of true eccentrics! I had never heard of Harry Smith, but after reading this book I can understand why so many people consider him an important figure in the American art scene of the 1950s-1980s. A disorganized, perhaps mentally fraught polymath? By my count, Harry Smith was active in at least 6 fields:

1. Anthropology: as a teenager he started recording Native American songs and photographing ceremonies in the communities close to his home in Oregon. This sparked a life-long interest in Native American communities, including Seminoles (focus on patchwork and dress-making) and Kiowa (focus on the peyote ceremonies)
2. Musicology. In musical circles Harry Smith is best remembered for the 6-LP collection “Anthology of American Folk Music”, which inspired musicians like Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia. He was also a jazz afficionado and connoisseur, but his interests also included Native American songs and “shape note music”.
3. The occult.
4. Film-making. Harry Smith started making avant-garde movies in the 1950s, mainly by hand-painting or hand-batiking individual frames (inspired by the Disney animation techniques). Some of these short movies can be viewed on Youtube and they are worth watching (but should come with a epilepsy warning, as the constantly flickering and moving shapes might trigger a seizure, I think)
5. Painting.
6. Various other interests in folk art such as string figures and Ukrainian painted eggs, and paper airplanes


And that’s just a listing of the things Harry Smith did. As to how he lived….as he seldom had a paying job, Harry Smith often lived in tiny apartments or in hotel rooms (as in the Chelsea hotel), and he spent most of his last years as some type of shaman-in-residence at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, courtesy of Allen Ginsberg. It seems he lived off small arts grants and the support of various friends and patrons. (But even the tolerant and generous Allen Ginsberg felt compelled to write him at some point to ask him to curb his spending on books).

What most intrigued me was how this shambolic, eccentric, irascible figure moved in overlapping circles: academic anthropologists at Berkeley, painters, Beat poets and jazz musicians in San Francisco, folk music collectors and movie makers in Greenwich Village. No one seems to ever have gotten really close to Harry, but so many people owe him some type of artistic debt. It is a pity that so much of his work and collections were destroyed, either by himself during an outburst of anger, or during one of his chaotic moves from one hotel room to another.

[David Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb portrait of a remarkable man. Harry Smith was an American Magus, a New World Renaissance man - anthropologist, film-maker, anthologist, artist, occultist, obsessive collector of folk art in its many forms and endlessly curious searcher for meaning and the connectedness of things. Szwed's book is splendidly written and beautifully detailed, despite the sheer range and complexity of his subject's life, interests and achievements, and the lack of reliable information from Harry Smith himself, as well as the different versions of the man encountered and described by others. Wise but wayward, generous yet forever panhandling, both creative and destructive in his art and his attitude to it, Smith's life was almost wholly devoted to the creation of art and the accumulation of often arcane knowledge, living mostly from hand to mouth, relying on the kindness and financial support of friends who believed in him and his work. Immensely intelligent and knowleable but also cantankerous, selfish, stubborn, vindictive and his own worst enemy in many ways, this book presents the man with all his eccentricities and flaws, while recognising and celebrating his talent and impact. In these pages, you will learn much about Harry's experiences while documenting of the culture and rituals of America's indigenous peoples as well as the creation of The Anthology of American Folk Music, a landmark act of curation and important social document that has been immensely influential to successive generations of musicians. You will also find appearances by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, John Cage, Maya Deren, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Alan Lomax, Jonas Mekas, Gregory Corso, Shirley Clarke, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and the Fugs, so that, as well as telling Harry Smith's story, this book is also a fascinating account of the US art and cultural scene, from the 1930s through to the early nineties.

[Chris Wharton · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Harry who?” you may ask. Why Harry Smith, of course, the renowned (albeit to a relatively small swath of people, myself not among them for I had never heard of him either) animator, anthologist, anthropologist, collector and hoarder, dilettante, filmmaker, folk and jazz musicologist, occultist, painter―an all-around polymath in other words―as well as a freeloading spendthrift, alcoholic, and drug addict who in the second half of the 20th century hung with Beat and counterculture luminaries like Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, the Fugs, and other denizens of New York’s Chelsea Hotel scene. His most substantial accomplishment was his 6-LP compilation of lost early recordings of American folk music in his Anthology of American Folk Music, released in 1952 and which became a Bible of sorts to later giants of the folk and folk rock movements of the later 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia among them. (Late in his life, Smith, who died in 1991, freeloaded frequently and at length off of Allen Ginsberg, who approached Garcia at a Grateful Dead concert in New York to ask if the band’s Rex Foundation could assist; Garcia first offered $5,000 a year, and when Ginsberg said that would not be enough, Garcia upped it to $10,000, saying “I owe a lot to Harry Smith for that 6-LP collection.”) I found the book less interesting about “the life” of Harry Smith―apart from his music-related pursuits much of his peripatetic activity was in areas a bit esoteric (if not downright goofy) for me plus he seemed quite an unpleasant person to be around much of the time―and more interesting about “the times” of Harry Smith―the decades of the Beats and the counterculture, especially New York City and the sights, sounds, and personalities therein, which are very well done (and very well written and readable).

[Tjf · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there ever was one who marched to the beat of their own drum…

It’s too difficult to form a cohesive opinion of Harry Smith; having never heard of him before finding this biography at my local library, the facts of his life inspire both awe and revulsion in me. I appreciate that he lived his life according to the dictates of his own idiosyncratic nature, devoting his share of existence to quenching an insatiable curiosity of everything above and below the sun, refusing to let his brilliant mind be battered into a pallid conformity. Though much of his oeuvre has been buried by time, or by Harry himself, his extant works are nothing short of genius, be it his early “amateur” non-objective films, paintings, old photos of his long gone cabaret murals that visually transcribed jazz compositions and mescaline visuals, or sketches of ancient mystical symbols in a random notebook. His vast collections, more like personal museum, is responsible for the preservation of priceless Native American artifacts as well as an anthology consisting of his old folk records that helped launch the career of Bob Dylan and countless others, changing the sound of American music forever.

On the other hand, he was also a manipulative leech and liar who bit the hand that fed him at every available opportunity, burdening those that loved him, and who without, would’ve died in a Manhattan gutter with nothing more to his name than a few empty liquor bottles.

If nothing else, Harry was fully, unabashedly human. His chaotic life could probably be reduced to a diagnosis by a psychiatrist or tamed with medication, but that’s not worth reading or writing a biography about.

[J.D. Brayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cosmic Scholar-The Life and Times of Harry Smith by John Szwed.

Observation: This is another genius known to music, Art and film humans, but otherwise a shadow figure to the public at large. Harry Smith changed music as we know it by compiling/producing The Anthology of American Folk Music; without which there would have been no Bob Dylan, and by extension, no Folk revival, no Americana genre. His contributions and innovative approach to underground film making is undeniable- most serious film students or film makers will bow at the altar of Harry. He was also an amazing Artist and archaeologist. Credit where credit is due. As to whether I would have been able to personally put up with Harry Smith is another story altogether. The words 'extremely gifted CRACKPOT' come to mind. Well worth the read for ALL creatives- but be glad he hasn't moved into your spare room. Not all geniuses are easy to suffer or live around.

[Drew Fortune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Smith had been a fascination of mine for more than a decade. I forgot how I came across his Anthology but when it did it changed me very deeply. Would listen to it while running through the mountains for hours.

Now, I realize through this book that the reaction I had and the impact that work had in me was maybe some type of spell Harry Smith had put on America in the 1950s. That’s bonkers and wonderful.

This was a great book for me because I am just so interested in this story and Harry is such an interesting person who connected to so many things I’m interested in.

I don’t know if it’s a good biography, I don’t read enough of those to really say, but this one really pinned me for a couple days.

[Miriam Kasin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I lied. I didn't finish the book; I just stopped reading it about 3/4 of the way in. Harry Smith is a fascinating character. I live on a street he lived on in Berkeley. The Anthology of American Folk Music is brilliant, and influenced countless musicians. His artwork, that which he didn't throw out or lose, is interesting and wonderful. His irascible personality is hard to even read about. The lack of more stars is because I am ambivalent about the writing. However, Smith's life and work are very much worth learning about.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this biography from a technical standpoint. harry smith is like a mythological creature and it was really interesting to see how he intertwined with the art, film, jazz, and poetry scenes all over america. at heart an anthropologist and collector but damn what an irascible odd guy. enjoyed reading about the creation of mahagonny after i was able to see it at the anthology film archives earlier this year.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Szwed does a fantastic job delving into the life of a man who was very hard to know and harder still to pin down. I knew of Smith for his folk music Anthology and his loose ties to the Beats, but I didn't realize his wide range of interests and other art, particularly the films and paintings. With mostly just the thoughts of others and so much rumor, I think Szwed really deserves kudos for what he's done with this biography.

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though wide ranging, the audiobook was noticeably shortest on details on Smith's Anthology which is the most intriguing aspect of his life. Yes, there's detail here but it seemed like a good opportunity to be a springboard to cover more of this music and his relationship to it as well as the field recordings. The later years were depressing and he comes off as a bit of a nasty fellow overall.

[Rupert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential and singular. It’s a miracle Harry Smith lived so long let alone created and achieved more than most 6 people combined. Zwed is an excellent biographer and let’s the reader know the extent of Smith’s epic self destructive tendencies, but never lets it be the focus of the book, staying centered on how much of the current culture was influenced by Smith’s work and thought.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and multi-faceted look at an American original and truly unique man. Harry Smith's bizarre outsider life as an anthropologist, musical curator, animator, and artist was one of a kind, and the impact and influence of his life's work, while often obscured, is in evidence to this day.

[Zach Werbalowsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

i messed up the order reading the semiotext(e) american magus, which was as illuminating, but much less fun to read, yet somehow got deeper. This is a much better text to start. Get the broad strokes, read of his life AND THEN read the interviews to humanize this characterization, because this was worth the read, but I knew too much going in.

[Silla Mein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruce Baillie, Stan Brackhage,Jonas Mekas or Maya Deren?, then this book is for you. Engaging and well written. Book fills gap in the “underground “ film history. Excellent companion to American Magus edited by Paola Igliori.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brave attempt to create an ordered narrative of a disordered life. Szwed raise more questions than he gives answers but it is a fascinating study of a semi-forgotten figure from America's cultural past.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Smith was a complicated, idiosyncratic character and to capture him warts and all is not an easy feat. John Szwed somehow sorted through a lot of material and people that Smith knew in a variety of fields, as well as his obsessions. Allen Ginsberg was a saint. This book partly proves it.