Jack Kerouac Best known for writing such classics as ‘On the Road’, ‘The Dharma Bums’ and ‘Visions of Cody’, Jack Kerouac became the un-elected voice of the Beat Generation in 50s America that paved the way for the hippies and various other counter-cultures. These books contained thinly veiled accounts of Jack’s debauched journeys across the States and Mexico with his friend Neal Cassidy and others. He also wrote about his struggles with addiction and coming to terms with being famous, particularly in his later book ‘Big Sur’, where he battles alcoholic depression against the backdrop of the Californian coast. Still, he did get a street in San Francisco named after him!