Few indeed are the authors still publishing at age 100, but Lawrence Ferlinghetti was no ordinary writer. Drawing heavily from his own eventful life, this book follows the narrator from his childhood, shuffled from his overburdened mother to his French aunt to foster childhood with a rich Bronxville family. Later taking part in D-Day, the young man embraces a vagabond life in Paris. These biographical reminiscences are interweaved with energy bursts of raw emotion, reflection, prose poetry, and prognostication on what we may face as a species on Planet Earth.

"Ferlinghetti's wits are afire, his wisdom is wide and deep, and this little book is packed with incredible sentences…. He's still got it." —NPR