Customer Reviews

Adventures in the Counterculture: From Hip Hop to High Times

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I didn't realized just how much Hager's writing and political convictions have been an inspiration to me throughout the years until seeing his work compiled in Adventures. From obsessing over Art after Midnight in my early college years to using High Times for cultivation tips in my later years, his writing has hade a major impact on my life. The East Village scene he documented in the early 80s was my inspiration for becoming an artist and moving to New York in 1995. It was refreshing to read his piece on the Rainbows, having attended a Gathering at the Ocala National Forest in Florida, and found it to be an enlightening experience. But the only press I ever read of the movement has been condescending. Steven Hager has been on the forefront of documenting the counterculture for over three decades, and for those who have been intimately involved in the culture, his work stands as some of the earliest and best of our time. His book on hip hop remains a staple to any hip hop archivist today. And for the record, he's never claimed to invent "hip hop," but his essay was the first to use the term in print journalism. Overall a very informative read for those who really care about the counter culture.

This is pretty ponderous stuff.. definitely not the Electric Acid Kool Aid Test. The Author's claim to having invented hip hop should be filed next to Al Gore's claim to have invented the internet. The rest of the book is about 60s hippie culture in the 80s, conspiracies, and pot. It's a lot of the same stuff High Times writes about, so if you read High Times, you've heard this stuff before. It doesn't cover any of the real 80s counter culture like skateboarding and alternative rock. For a real 80s counterculture book check out Dogtown or Get in the Van.. This is for hippies, and even so, it's not very well done.

This book covers a breadth of vital experiences among the counter-culture and is must reading for those that care about the true history of our age. Steve gets to the crux of many places and times where the subtle actions of a few individuals spreads out to the real world of culture, human interactions and become forces upon the world stage by sheer beneficence. An enduring work covering what the mainstream either ignores or gives skimpy, stereotyped coverage.