Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
Acid Dreams is the complete social history of LSD and the counterculture it helped to define in the sixties. Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain's exhaustively researched and astonishing account -- part of it gleaned from secret government files -- tells how the CIA became obsessed with LSD as an espionage weapon during the early 1950s and launched a massive covert research program, in which countless unwitting citizens were used as guinea pigs. Though the CIA was intent on keeping the drug to...
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Acid Dreams is the complete social history of LSD and the counterculture it helped to define in the sixties. Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain's exhaustively researched and astonishing account-part of it gleaned from secret government files-tells how the CIA became obsessed with LSD as an espionage weapon during the early l950s and launched a massive covert research program, in which countless unwitting citizens were used as guinea pigs. Though the CIA was intent on keeping the drug to itself, it ultimately couldn't prevent it from spreading into the popular culture; here LSD had a profound impact and helped spawn a political and social upheaval that changed the face of America. From the clandestine operations of the government to the escapades of Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, Allen Ginsberg, and many others, Acid Dreams provides an important and entertaining account that goes to the heart of a turbulent period in our history. "Engaging throughout . . . at once entertaining and disturbing." - Andrew Weil, M.D., The Nation; "Marvelously detailed . . . loaded with startling revelations." - Los Angeles Daily News; "An engrossing account of a period . . . when a tiny psychoactive molecule affected almost every aspect of Western life." - William S. Burroughs; "An important historical synthesis of the spread and effects of a drug that served as a central metaphor for an era." - John Sayles. Publishers Weekly This fascinating study examines how the CIA tested LSD on unwitting residents of Greenwich Village and San Francisco. Of particular interest are profiles of Timothy Leary, LSD chemist Ronald Stark and others. (May)
Introduction: Whose Worlds Are These?xiiiProloguexviiPart 1The Roots of Psychedelia1.In the Beginning There Was Madness ...3The Truth Seekers3Enter LSD12Laboratories of the State19Midnight Climax27The Hallucination Battlefield352.Psychedelic Pioneers44The Original Captain Trips44Healing Acid53Psychosis or Gnosis?613.Under the Mushroom, Over the Rainbow71Manna From Harvard71Chemical Crusaders77The Crackdown894.Preaching Lsd96High Surrealism96The Psychedelic Manual106The Hard Sell1135.The All-American Trip119The Great Freak Forward119Acid and the New Left126Part 2Acid for the Masses6.From Hip to Hippie141Before the Deluge141Politics of the Bummer150The First Human Be-In1577.The Capital of Forever170Stone Free170The Great Summer Dropout1798.Peaking in Babylon194A Gathering Storm194Magical Politics201Gotta Revolution2119.Season of the Witch223Armed Love223The Acid Brotherhood234Bad Moon Rising25110.What a Field Day for the Heat259Prisoner of Lsd259A Bitter Pill267The Great Lsd Conspiracy276Postscript: Acid and After288Afterword295References298Bibliography323Index333
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ This fascinating study examines how the CIA tested LSD on unwitting residents of Greenwich Village and San Francisco. Of particular interest are profiles of Timothy Leary, LSD chemist Ronald Stark and others. (May)\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsA reprint of the 1985 edition with a new introduction (Andrei Codrescu) and an afterword by the authors. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
