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American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century Paperback – July 14, 2020

by Ido Hartogsohn (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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How historical, social, and cultural forces shaped the psychedelic experience in midcentury America, from CIA LSD experiments the Harvard Psilocybin Project.

Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces—by set (the mindset of the user) and setting (the environments in which the experience takes place). He explores uses of psychedelics that range from CIA and military experimentation to psychedelic-inspired styles in music, fashion, design, architecture, and film. Along the way, he introduces us to a memorable cast of characters including Betty Eisner, a psychologist who drew on her own experience to argue for the therapeutic potential of LSD, and Timothy Leary, who founded the Harvard Psilocybin Project and went on to become psychedelics' most famous advocate.

Hartogsohn chronicles these developments in the context of the era's cultural trends, including the cold war, the counterculture, the anti-psychiatric movement, and the rise of cybernetics. Drawing on insights from the study of science, technology, and society, he develops the idea of LSD as a suggestible technology, the properties of which are shaped by suggestion. He proposes the concept of collective set and setting, arguing that the historical and sociocultural context of midcentury America offered a particular set and setting—creating the conditions for what he calls the American trip.

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  1. Print length
    432 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  4. Publication date
    July 14, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    6.06 x 1.13 x 9.06 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0262539144
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0262539142
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hartogsohn's book is a seminal contribution to his discipline and the larger issue of extrapharmacological factors shaping drug effects."
–Frontiers in Pharmacology

"American Trip presents a timely and invaluable guide to the crucial lessons that twentiethcentury psychedelic history provides for the current psychedelic renaissance, and to using set and setting as a strategic tool for ensuring the healthy integration of psychedelics into society."
 – Rick Doblin, Executive Director of MAPS

"In clearly and rigorously exploring the single most consequential idea in psychedelic studies — the notion of set and setting — American Trip not only insightfully reframes the many histories of LSD, but offers a humanistic and reflexive alternative to the often simplistic discourse of today’s growing psychedelic industry."
– Erik Davis, author of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies

"American Trip guides its readers through the reflexive arts and sciences of set and setting used to study psychedelics, beckoning towards an intense pluriverse, full of beguiling guises, strange twists, and thricetold tales.
– Nancy D. Campbell, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; author of OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose

"In this landmark book, Hartogsohn enlarges the traditional parameters of set and setting by including the larger socialcultural matrix. This expanded definition provides a more sophisticated understanding of how nondrug factors determine the nature of any psychedelic drug experience."
– Rick Strassman, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine and author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule

"American Trip amounts to a sociological enlightenment of our drug culture. Hartogsohn’s vibrant book shows how 1960s America made psychedelics do what they did and suggests that these wondrous molecules will do something altogether different in other times and places.
– Nicolas Langlitz, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New School for Social Research; author of Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research since the Decade of the Brain

About the Author

Ido Hartogsohn is Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Bar Ilan University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press (July 14, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262539144
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262539142
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.06 x 1.13 x 9.06 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

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Ido Hartogsohn

Ido Hartogsohn

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Ido Hartogsohn is an assistant professor at the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society Studies at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Hartogsohn has been active as a scholar, artist and activist for psychedelics since the mid-2000s, launching many psychedelic related projects and initiatives including the Israeli psychedelic magazine “LaPsychonaut” (2013), the “Altered Minds” psychedelic conference (2017), and the “Psychedelic Video Museum” (2020). His groundbreaking work explores the role of set and setting (context) in shaping the effects of psychoactive drugs for individuals and cultures, offering novel ways of understanding psychedelics in their historical and cultural contexts. Hartogsohn’s acclaimed book Technomystica (2009) was the first Hebrew book dedicated to the subject of psychedelics.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Andrew
    5.0 out of 5 stars An original analysis - not just a retread of the usual psychedelic story
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Full disclosure - I am a psychedelic therapy researcher. I also teach this content to professional audiences around the country. This makes me a particularly discerning reader of psychedelic histories. When you've read a lot of them, the narrative often begins to sound the same (I'm looking at you Michael Pollan). While telling this history (LSD discovered by Hofmann, Early legitimate research, The Good Friday Experiment, Tim Leary and his antics, Modern rediscovery of these compounds for use in psychotherapy) s fine for the uninitiated, it grows tired for the familiar.

    Ido Hartogsohn's book "American Trip" certainly covered this canonical history, but what really impressed me was his scholarly (but very readable!) analysis of a much larger notion of "set and setting." This psychedelic chestnut usually refers to the mindset the psychedelic user enters the drug session in, and the physical setting where it occurs, and is thought to have a significant bearing on if the experience is useful, frightening, etc. What Hartogsohn masterfully does in this work is to expand the set and setting that drugs exist in a culture, and analyzes in eloquent prose how the way a society sees a drug has a huge bearing on the way its users experience the drug. Since psychedelics are the most protean of all drugs (maybe with the exception of cannabis), this is more true for them than for most and is reflected in how a drug like psilocybin has been a sacrament, a psychotomimetic, a menace, and a medicine, depending on when, how, where, and by whom it is used.

    This is necessary read for any engaged scholar of the psychedelic renaissance, or even someone who just wants to think more deeply about the role that these drugs have played in the past and will play in the future. Once Pollan has gotten your feet wet, dive in deep with Hartogsohn.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • CJD51
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on this Topic!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I've read numerous books on the history, nature and uses of psychedelics. This book is the best! The author skillfully uses the theme of set and setting to present the history of the various uses of psychedelics (LSD) in an appropriate cultural context. Reading this book helped me more fully understand the chameleon nature of the psychedelic experience -- why some people have bad trips while others dine with gods. Provides an excellent description of the use and effects of LSD in contexts from the military's unethical uses to ill-informed academic uses (to mimic psychosis) and, of course, Timothy Leary's "Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out" legacy. If this topic interests you, this is the book to read!!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Ron C.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Superlative History of Psychedelics in America
    Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Back in the 1960s psychedelics were vaguely feared, and usually associated with hippies and utopian movements. American Trip goes behind those stereotypes and reveals the astonishingly varied history. Yes, the counterculture treated psychedelics as an aid to creativity and a gateway to spiritual experiences. But I was surprised to learn that LSD, “magic mushrooms,” and the like were considered possible tools in psychotherapy—and as a weapon of war.

    Ido Hartogsohn tells the whole story in an accessible and engaging style, yet the information he presents is backed up by copious notes and a huge bibliography. The information may get technical at times, but it’s easy to follow because the book is beautifully organized. And his account takes us right up to the present, as he talks about the connections between psychedelics and digital technology. I can’t imagine a better book on this topic.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • R.A
    5.0 out of 5 stars Set, Mindsetting, and My Experieince with American Trip
    Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2020
    This book is the latest addition to an expanding literature on psychedelic culture. It joins works of fiction such as T. C. Boyle’s Outside Looking In, as well as non-fiction like High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica and Visionary Experience in the Seventies by Erik Davis, and Mike Jay’s Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic. At the heart of Hartogsohn’s book is the idea of “set and setting,” but rather than the somewhat banal notion of “everything is context,” it could also be read as a mind-set or a resetting of the way one approaches the history of the American infatuation with mind-altering substances.
    The author takes the reader on a journey into several timeframes and locations, seemingly worlds apart from one another (e.g., the CIA, Jimi Hendrix, and Silicon Valley), but he wonderfully interweaves them into a single coherent narrative.
    American Trip provides a more nuanced understanding of the American fascination with doing things “under the influence.” The tone of the book is sober, and it is extremely erudite, and intellectually challenging. Highly recommended not just to those interested in psychedelia, but to anyone interested in the American experience in the 20th century as such, technology, mysticism, and counterculture in the broadest sense.
    3 people found this helpful
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