In the new, revised, and updated version, Gerald Nicosia builds on his landmark text, using a wide range of sources that have only become available in the past quarter century. The new edition contains hundreds of changes from the last edition. Some of these are merely corrections, a name or date changed, but there are also extensive new passages based on material that has come to light since 1994. As just some examples, the book contains new material on Kerouac's ancestry; on his relationship with his mother and his last wife Stella Sampas; on some of his dark sides, such as his anti-Semitism; on the ways Kerouac was influenced by Neal Cassady's infamous "Joan Anderson Letter"; on what Kerouac wished for and saw as his legacy; and on the details of his death. Nicosia also tries to define more precisely Kerouac's role in pioneering the postmodern novel.