ECHOING THE BEATS; ROLLING STONE BOOK ATTEMPTS TO CAPTURE MOVEMENT.

Byline: - Rob Lowman

``The founders of the Beat movement, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and their first mentor, William S. Burroughs, picked up the word `Beat' in Times Square in the mid-1940s from Herbert Huncke, a junkie and, later, a Beat writer himself. Ginsberg and Kerouac said it meant exhausted, poor, beatific, while Burroughs, a master ironist, used it as a verb, meaning to steal or con. For all of them, it spelled a revolution in manners ...'' This passage by Ann Douglas, from an essay in ``The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: the Beat Generation and American Culture'' (edited by Holly George-Warren and published by Hyperion; $27.50) explains the multisidedness of that famed movement that continued into the '60s and continues to fascinate us today, even if it is through a romantic glass darkly.

The Beats' denim and black uniforms belied their colorful lives. As people who could manipulate words and images, the poets, writers and artists who made the Beat generation a cultural force were as different and distinct as their imaginations, yet linked by their willingness to wear their convictions.

``Book of the Beats,'' with essays from such diverse talents as Douglas Brinkley, Johnny Depp, Lester Bangs, Patti Smith, Robert Palmer, Hunter S. Thompson and Burroughs himself, goes a long way in trying to see across the spectrum of the movement as well as to celebrate it. Filled with numerous photos and smart writing, ``Book of the Beats'' is a treat for anyone who hasn't gotten ``On the Road'' out of their system.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Novelist Jack Kerouac, left, and poet Allen Ginsberg pore over Proust's ``Remembrance of Things Past'' in this 1959 photo from ``The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats.''

(2) William S. Burroughs strikes a pose in New York City (1953).

(3) no caption (Book cover - The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats)