"On the Road" is the iconic novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 1957, which has come to epitomize the Beat Generation. It is based on the real-life adventures of Kerouac and his friends as they journeyed across America in the late 1940s. The narrator, Sal Paradise (based on Kerouac himself), and his charismatic friend Dean Moriarty (modeled on Neal Cassady), travel from New York to San Francisco, seeking joy, fulfillment, and the essence of spiritual discovery.

The novel captures the spirit of post-war America with its jazz music, poetry, and open road, famously typed on a single, long scroll of paper in a three-week burst of creativity. "On the Road" celebrates freedom, friendship, and the quest for meaning in a restrictive society.