I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary [Hardcover]

John Higgs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2006

President Nixon called him the most dangerous man in America, while Terence McKenna believed he made more people happy than anyone else in history. Few People have divided opinion as strongly as Dr. Timothy Leary. Leary, a brilliant behavioral psychologist, persuaded millions to tune in, turn on, and drop out. His influence was so wide-ranging that he had enormous impact on shaping the post-modern 21st century world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Higgs has written for British publications including The Guardian, Mojo and The Independent, and was BAFTA nominated for the innovative children’s television program TooMuch TV, which he wrote and produced. He created the long running quiz show X Marks The Spot for BBC Radio 4, has worked extensively in children’s television and animation, and has produced a number of best-selling videogames. He lives in Brighton, England with his partner and two children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books; 1St Edition edition (September 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569803153
• ISBN-13: 978-1569803158
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timothy Leary 101: A fascinating bio of one of the most influential minds of the 20th century, November 11, 2006

By 

Sean P. Kearney (Castle Rock, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary (Hardcover)

Harvard psychologist, LSD guru, and transhumanist pioneer Timothy Leary was found of saying, "There are 24 Timothy Leary's" and "You get the Timothy Leary you deserve." John Higg's insightful biography "I Have America Surrounded" reads like a mystery novel focusing on Timothy Leary, the fugitive. Higg's explores in depth the events of Leary's escape from prison and adventures on the run beginning in 1970 after announcing that he would face Ronald Reagan in the race for Governor of California.

Unlike Robert Greenfield's recent bio-tabloid or Leary's auto-biography "Flashbacks," "I Have America Surrounded" is a much more complete story of a fascinating, flawed, and yet undeniably brilliant mind. Higgs explores the motivations, misteps, and impact of Leary's works and life with insight from many of the people who were closest to Leary at the time including Brian Barritt, Michael Horowitz, and Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

If you are looking for Timothy Leary 101, this is it. I can't recommend this book highly enough and look forward to hearing reviews from other readers.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Leary biography, a history of psychedelic culture, January 27, 2008

By 

Theseus Augustus "Keenly watching the 21st ce... (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary (Hardcover)

Unlike the Greenfield biography, this bio is told from the perspective of an insider to 21st century psychedelic culture. Higgs explores the many contributions that this flawed man made both to the methodology and history of psychedelics, but also the lasting contributions he made in the fields of psychological testing, the human potential movement, the personal computer, and the decade of the sixties.

You are likely to come away from this book convinced that everything good about the sixties was due to Leary, and if it had not been for Leary that decade would have probably been a much darker and more violent time.

Leary's serious flaws, the many people he disappointed, his many failures and drop-outs, and later collaboration with federal law enforcement are covered extensively. This biography is critical yet balanced, something that cannot be said of other biographies (including Leary's own).

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling, informed, and informative biography, December 9, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary (Hardcover)

British biographer John Higgs draws upon previously unavailable archive of documents in "I Have America Surrounded: The Life Of Timothy Leary", new biography of Timothy Leary, the brilliant Harvard University psychologist who was one of the leading proponents of using psychedelic drugs like LSD to expand the mind's perception. A figure of controversy who has achieved an almost cult-like status in the history of the 1960s drug culture - and the man who coined the phrase `tune in, turn on, drop out' as a mantra of that era - Leary conducted research that led to changes in popular American culture as reflected in its music, cyber-culture, the Mind-Body-Soul movement, and clinical psychological profiling. Very highly recommended reading and an appropriate addition to academic and community library American Biography collections, "I Have America Surrounded" is a compelling, informed, and informative biography of one of the key figures in the `hippie' cultural movement that stamped the baby boomer coming-of-age experience on and off the college campus.