Books

First UK Edition Inscribed by the Author. Loose bookplate laid in inscribed by Ken Kesey in red ink "For Ruth, Ken Kesey." On the copyright page, Kesey's name is blacked out with black marker. Fine with Very Good Plus Dust Jacket. Jacket has small creases at top. Original Price (18 s net) intact. Protected in archival plastic. Kesey's first published novel is based on individuals whom he met while working the graveyard shift in the psychiatric ward in a Veterans' Administration Hospital in California. On the surface, the book is an indictment of the mental health system and psychiatric practices of the era. But, just as importantly, Kesey is attacking conformity and celebrating individualism. Kesey was a major counter-cultural link between the Beat Generation of the 1950's and the hippies of the 1960's. The novel was made into an Oscar-winning movie starring Jack Nicholson in 1975. The picture swept all "Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) , Best Actress, Best Director , and Best Adapted Screenplay. One critic argues the novel belongs on the same shelf with 1984, Brave New World, Farenheit 451, Clockwork Orange, Darkness at Noon and Cool Hand Luke. ; Signed by Inscribed by Author(s).

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey, first published in 1962. The book is a powerful critique of the mental health system and a poignant study of institutional processes and the human mind.