The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked.

He asked Ginsberg for "any and all information on your poetry and your visions" (shortly before Ginsberg's admission into hospital) saying that "I am interested in knowing also anything you may wish to tell. Holmes came to the conclusion that the values and ambitions of the Beat Generation were symbolic of something bigger which was the inspiration for Go.

Holmes was more an observer and documenter of beat characters like Ginsberg Cassady and Kerouac than one of them. Considered the first "Beat" novel Go depicted events in his life with his friends Jack Kerouac Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg. In the article Holmes attributes the term to Kerouac who had acquired the idea from Herbert Huncke.