Monday Night Class [Paperback]

Stephen Gaskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

Monday Night Class began as an experimental college course that evolved into a popular weekly venue attended by over 1500 people. Hippies in the Bay Area swarmed to talk about what was on their mind with one of the few adults they trusted, "hippie guru" Stephen Gaskin.

Consciousness, the spiritual plane, religion, politics, sex, drugs, and current events were discussed as seen through the viewpoint of the 60s counterculture. What materialized were basic teachings that gave rise to an enlightened worldview for a generation seeking change.

This new edition is a collection of the original transcripts from those unique and inspiring meetings updated with Stephen's witticisms, quips, and running commentary. With over 35 years of perspective, Stephen clarifies earlier responses for today's global climate and acknowledges those teachings that were admittedly a product of the times.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen Gaskin was born in 1935 in Denver, Colorado. After a tour of duty in the Marine Corp, he earned his teaching credentials and taught at San Francisco State University for two years. It was there that he became involved with the hip revolutionary movement sweeping the country.

Stephen gained increased recognition in the early 70s when he embarked on a nationwide speaking tour at colleges and churches. Accompanied by some 250 young adults, mostly from Monday Night Class, in 50 school buses and assorted vehicles the tour became known as The Caravan and picked up new members as they travelled across the country.

In 1971 Stephen and the group bought land in Tennessee and founded The Farm, one of the largest and most successful alternative communities in the country. The Farm became renown for soy technology, re-introducing the home birth movement, and founding Plenty International, a relief and development organization. Stephen accepted the "Right Livelihood Award" or "Alternative Nobel Prize" for Plenty in Sweden in 1980.

Stephen, an active speaker on the alternative lifestyles circuit, was inducted into the Counter Culture Hall of Fame in Amsterdam in November 2004. He has five children and three grandchildren and lives with his wife, midwife Ina May Gaskin, on The Farm.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company (TN); Revised edition (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570671818
• ISBN-13: 978-1570671814
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Those were the days, October 25, 2007

By 

P. G. Springer "PGregory Springer" (Urbana, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monday Night Class (Paperback)

My early edition (with only the mandala, not the title), was inscribed by Gaskin years after publication. He wrote, "To Greg, who was part of Monday Night Class, too. Stephen Gaskin."

Everything since the 1960s has been, at best, a simulation of reality, the raw energy of those days. What generation is going to come up with something truly revolutionary? When? Are we all just going to melt?

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If Only They Had Known, July 8, 2011

By 

Semaphore - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monday Night Class (Kindle Edition)

I know people who went to the Farm to live. They no longer live there. If only they could have fast forwarded decades to the publication of this book they would have known why they would choose to leave.

The Monday Night Class lectures are filled with drivel and woo woo. I suppose some of it can be laid at the door of the era in which they were given, but some of it was just patently stupid.

The only reason I have given this book one star is because Mr. Gaskin's comments when he edited the past lectures are revealing and quite interesting. I think even he wondered what he had been smoking.