Now that we know the public was duped by an administration looking for politically saleable motives for a "pre-emptive" invasion of Iraq, the question is: Why did the US invade? Carol Brightman takes us through the various stages of the war, documenting the unexpected defeat of the "coalition" at the hands of the Iraqi resistance and pondering the significance of this loss for America's vaunted military supremacy. She then returns to confront the unanswered question with another. Why, in spite of both military and political defeats, does the US want permanent bases in Iraq? The answer is the great fear that OPEC will switch its international transactions from the dollar to the euro. Iraq actually made the switch in November 2000 and, given the dollars steady decline, did well. Now it has paid the price. Iran did similarly in the summer of 2003 and it, too, was targeted by the White House, but the resistance in Iraq has delayed further adventures, for the moment. Carol Brightman has been a leading critic since the Sixties. She contrasts the new movements with the old, writes passionately on the reawakening of dissent brought on by the Iraq war, and coolly suggests that it will take more than regime change in Washington to bring Americas fears to the table.

San Francisco's Grateful Dead brought its psychedelic blend of folk, bluegrass, and blues to the 1960s counterculture, along with a romance for the Beats and a love of anarchy that made it something more than a bond. Without radio play and virtually unnoticed by the press, the Dead forged a vast underground following whose loyalty survives to the present day.

National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Carol Brightman returns to the bond's roots -- to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the acid tests and the heady days of Haight-Ashhury, the free concerts in Golden Gate Park and the formative shows of New York's Fillmore East -- to uncover the secrets of the band's longevity. Drawing on exclusive interviews With band members, staff and crew, Deadheads, other musicians, journalists -- and her own experience as a '60s activist -- Brightman shows us how, amid the turbulent Free Speech Movement and antiwar rallies, the Grateful Dead's abandonment to music, drugs, and dance offered the faithful a shelter in the storm. Her riveting, in-depth portrait of Jerry Garcia, the "nonleader leader" who held to a vision of the Grateful Dead's destiny even as he recoiled from the juggernaut it became, shows us how it was that a Dead concert become something halfway between a revival meeting and a family reunion.

An absorbing and exhilarating exploration, Sweet Chaos offers, at last, a complete understanding of the Dead phenomenon and its place in American culture.