This critical study of the literary magazines, underground newspapers, and small press publications that had an impact on Charles Bukowski's early career, draws on archives, privately held unpublished Bukowski work, and interviews to shed new light on the ways in which Bukowski became an icon in the alternative literary scene in the 1960s.

CONTENTS Acknowledgments List of Permissions Preface for the King; Michael Basinski Epigraph Introduction 1 'Who's Big in the Littles' 2 The Insider Within 3 A Towering Giant with Small Feet 4 Stealing the Limelight 5 Curtain Calls Appendix Timeline Works Cited