This books is a psychedelic trip through the 1960s.
By RYLEY BAKER
SNN Staff Writer
The first time I read this book, published in 1968, I found myself unable to put it down even for a second. Author Tom Wolfe does a fabulous job creating a chronicle of the 1960’s hippie movement, tackling the cultural icons of that era: Haight-Ashbury, a district in San Francisco, known for the rise in the drug-culture in the ‘60s; Hell’s Angels; LSD; the Grateful Dead; marijuana; Timothy Leary, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs; and even the Beatles. The bulk of the story is about the “day-glow crazies” on their psychedelic bus, traveling across the country and making numerous stops to have group LSD trips with the Hell’s Angels in 1964.
The book describes Ken Kesey’s experiments with LSD, as well as Kesey’s marijuana bust and the numerous Acid Tests that were held throughout the sixties. The Acid Tests were mass gatherings of the hip folk where guests unknowingly took acid. Wolfe does a great job documenting the vibes on the bus, what they call the “synchronization” of all the Pranksters in every moment.
This is a rad read because it tells you a lot about the effects of LSD and you really get to know the characters and what the ‘60s scene was like. I read this book twice because I didn’t fully understand the chapter in which a young girl explained her first acid trip.
The book makes you feel like you are one of the Pranksters, or that you’re actually at the Trips Festival, a three-day event that featured an excessive amount of acid as well as the Grateful Dead. After one of Kesey’s marijuana busts, he decided to hide out in Mexico, and the Merry Pranksters split up. However, society, was already turned on to psychedelics. The revolution lived on; psychedelic drugs even influenced music in this time. I think it’s safe to say Kesey and the Merry Pranksters played a rather large role in shaping the whole hippie era, the way they turned the people on to drugs.
So, if the hippie generation is your thing, groove on this book. If you can’t dig reading, see the movie. Either way, become knowledgeable of how psychedelics shaped the ‘60s. The early ‘60s were a time for individuals to separate themselves from the norm. A time in which free love and the purest form of music was appropriate. As the decade continued, individualism flourished and became a trend. The Beatniks led us to the Hippies, which led us to the Punks, from which Grunge formed, then gradually evolved into the current style. The ‘60s are not only fascinating, but a better era. There was so much peace, love and beauty everywhere.
