William Burroughs remains one of the most complex and controversial American writers of the twentieth century. A long-time heroin addict, he preferred to live abroad, away from America's draconian drug laws. After killing his wife in a bizarre shooting accident, he moved to Tangier where he lived in a male brothel and wrote Naked Lunch. He also lived in London and Paris before returning to New York in 1974. Following his death in 1997, Barry Miles, a friend for over thirty years, has completely updated his riveting biography of this literary guerilla and tormented visionary.