The San Francisco Oracle / The Psychedelic Newspaper of the Haight Ashbury (Digital Re-Creation) [CD-ROM]

Allen Cohen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

A complete digital re-creation of the legendary psychedelic underground newspaper originally published in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury during the Summer of Love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Takes you to the streets of Haight Ashbury at a time when ir was the Olympus of the newborn world. --The New York Times Sunday Book Review

Source documents of an eclectic spirituality and social philosophy that continue to influence American society. --The San Francisco Chronicle

The most beautiful newspaper even seen on the streets of the planet. --Abbie Hoffman quoted in The Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Allen Cohen, the editor of The Oracle, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1940 into a working class, Jewish family. He graduated Brooklyn College in 1962 and began his search for the Holy Grail on a trip across the United States, ending in San Francisco the following year. In search of the remnants of the Beat Generation, he first lived in North Beach. There, in the basement of City Lights Bookstore, Allen ran into an old friend from Brooklyn, Steve Walzer, who had room for him at his house in the Haight Ashbury, at the time a working class neighborhood in the west of San Francisco. Soon, the Haight became a flourishing bohemia and Allen a key personality. He had a dream of a new newspaper that would embrace both the alienation of American youth and the vision of a new world. From this dream came the San Francisco Oracle which Allen edited and which flourished from 1966 to 1968. It was a leading voice in the nationwide underground press movement. Allen also helped! originate the community rituals of the Love Pageant Rally and then the Human Be-In. 1968, he started a commune in Northern California to explore a non-material self-sustaining and creative community. Out of necessity, he became a mid-husband and in 1970 wrote and published Childbirth is Ecstasy, the first book on natural child birth in a community environment (with photographs by Steven Walzer). He returned to San Francisco in 1975, joined the Peace and Environmental coalition and published The Regan Poems in 1980, examining this critical phase in American politics. During this time he also sought to recreate the now legendary psychedelic San Francisco Oracle in order to preserve it for posterity. Towards that end, encouraged by the vagabond poet Tony Seldon, he did performances, slide shows and lectures about the Haight Ashbury in the 60’s. His efforts were rewarded by the publication of the San Francisco Oracle Facsimile Edition with Regent Press in 1991 and the electronic version on CD in 2005. In 1993 he authored the CD ROM Haight Ashbury in the 60’s. Critics said it was almost like being there. Throughout this period he was reading his poetry at colleges, museums, coffee houses, bookstores, and other venues throughout the United States and Europe. In 2001 he consulted with the San Diego Museum of Art on High Societies, a sixties rock poster show, and produced inconnection withit a symposium on the Sixties. After September 11, 2001 he edited, with Clive Matson, an anthology of poetry An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind: Poets on 9/11 also published by Regent Press, a collection of over 100 poets, which received the 2003 PEN Oakland National Literary Award. His Book of Hats, illustrated by his wife Ann Cohen, appeared the same year. In 2005 Like A Radiant White Dove: Selected Poems was released. Allen Cohen died in 2004, at the age of 64, spending his last years in a basement apartment in Oakland where he received and manifested! improbable impulses to save the world and to celebrate life.

Product Details

• CD-ROM: 420 pages
• Publisher: Regent Press; CD-Rom edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587901188
• ISBN-13: 978-1587901188
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING NEWSPAPER!, February 17, 2007

By 

Diana "Beautiful Dreamer" (Dacula, GA USA!!!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The San Francisco Oracle / The Psychedelic Newspaper of the Haight Ashbury (Digital Re-Creation) (CD-ROM)

LONG LIVE THE SAN FRANCISCO ORACLE!!! This is one of the best publications of history. You can print out everything and color in stuff and there are colored pages, too. Has all 12 issues with all of the fun, pictures, articles and stories! There are many typos in the articles-but this is natural due to it being underground, cheap (15 cents a copy!) and from the 60s. Get it-you won't regret it!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facsimile Edition, January 21, 2009

By 

Marconiex - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The San Francisco Oracle / The Psychedelic Newspaper of the Haight Ashbury (Digital Re-Creation) (CD-ROM)

If you own either one of the hard covered "Facsimile Edition" or the "Collectors Edition" books, this is a nice way to have a copy of it on disc, especially since it's now worth around $1000. The digital re-creation is in .pdf format and the pages are crystal clear with vibrant psychedelic colors just like in the book.

The best part that I like are the advertisements for records and concerts from back then. A real "Flash-Back"

You can also transfer the disk files to your computer so that you don't always have to load up the disk. Once in your computer you can print every page and create your own book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Oracle at last, May 4, 2009

By 

Thierry Dubois (France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The San Francisco Oracle / The Psychedelic Newspaper of the Haight Ashbury (Digital Re-Creation) (CD-ROM)

A costly paper reissue of the Oracle was briefly available some years ago but is now out of print, so this CD ROM is the next best thing. The DVD that comes with it, on the other hand, is amateurish and dispensable.