The Beat Generation is a term used to describe both a group of American writers who came to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired (later sometimes called "beatniks").

The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957). Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize what could be published in the United States. On the Road transformed Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady into a youth-culture hero. The members of the Beat Generation quickly developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity.

The adjective beat had the connotations of "tired" or "down and out," but as used by Kerouac it included the paradoxical connotations of "upbeat", "beatific", and the musical association of being "on the beat." The Beat writers emphasized a visceral engagement in worldly experiences combined with a quest for deeper spiritual understanding; many of them developed a strong interest in Buddhism.

Echoes of the Beat Generation can be seen throughout many other modern subcultures, such as "hippies" and "punks". .