Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and
cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution
spawned by the spread of LSD. This book for the first time tells
the full and astounding story--part of it hidden till now in secret
Government files--of the role the mind-altering drug played in our
recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our
time.
And what a story it is, beginning with LSD's discovery in 1943 as
the most potent drug known to science until it spilled into public
view some twenty years later to set the stage for one of the great
ideological wars of the decade. In the intervening years the CIA
had launched a massive covert research program in the hope that LSD
would serve as an espionage weapon, psychiatric pioneers came to
believe that acid would shed light on the perplexing problems of
mental illness, and a new generation of writers and artists had
given birth to the LSD sub-culture.
Acid Dreams is a complete social history of the psychedelic
counter-culture that burst into full view in the Sixties. With new
information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the
authors reveal how the CIA became obsessed with LSD during the Cold
War, fearing the Soviets had designs on it as well. What follows is
one of the more bizarre episodes in the covert history of U.S.
intelligence as the search for a "truth drug" began to resemble a
James Bond scenario in which agents spied on drug-addicted
prostitutes through two-way mirrors and countless unwitting
citizens received acid with sometimes tragic results.
The story took a new turn when Captain Al Hubbard, the first of a
series of "Johnny Appleseeds" of acid, began to turn on thousands
of scientists, businessmen, church figures, policemen, and others
from different walks of life.
Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, Allen
Ginsberg and the Beat generation, the Diggers and the Age of Golden
Anarchy in Haight-Ashbury, William Mellon Hitchcock, Abbie Hoffman
and the Yippies, the Beatles--these are just some of a motley cast
of characters who stride through the pages of this compelling
chronicle. What impact did the widespread use of LSD have on the
anti-war movement of the late Sixties? Acid Dreams traces the way
the drug intensified each stage of counter-cultural transition to
break the "mind-forged manacles" of a new generation in rebellion.
In Acid Dreams, Martin Lee and Bruce Shalin have written the
history of a time still only dimly understood. The events they
recount and the facts they uncover supply an important missing
piece of the puzzle of a crucial decade in our recent past.
Praise
"Engaging throughout. . . . At once entertaining and
disturbing."--Andrew Weil, M.D., The Nation
"Marvelously detailed . . . loaded with startling
revelations."--Los Angeles Daily News
"Excellent. . . . Captivating. . . . A generalist's history that
should replace all others."--San Francisco Chronicle
"A landmark contribution to the sociopolitical history of the U.S.
. . . Some of the liveliest, most absorbing, best-documented
historical analyses to appear in recent years. . . . A seminal
contribution to understanding America's most turbulent modern
decade."--Choice
"This funny and irreverent book brings it all back."--The
Washington Post
"Recounts some of the most bizarre incidents in the history of U.S.
intelligence."--The Boston Globe
"A monumental social history of psychedelia."--The Village
Voice
"A blistering expose of CIA drug experimentation on Americans. It's
all there."--John Stockwell
"Highly readable. . . . Well researched. . . . Filled with
entertaining and bizarre episodes."--The Detroit Free Press
"An important study of cultural history. . . . The scholarship is
exquisite and the methods sensible."--Allen Ginsberg
"An engrossing account of a period . . . when a tiny psychoactive
molecule affected almost every aspect of Western life."--William S.
Burroughs
"A missing link, a work of combat history, a devastating
combination of facts and poetry that is bound to arouse
controversy."--Paul Krassner
"An important historical synthesis of the spread and effects of a
drug that served as a central metaphor for an era."--John
Sayles
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