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Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond Paperback – January 21, 1994

by Martin A. Lee (Author), Bruce Shlain (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 428 ratings
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Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This book for the first time tells the full and astounding story—part of it hidden till now in secret Government files—of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time.

And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science until it spilled into public view some twenty years later to set the stage for one of the great ideological wars of the decade. In the intervening years the CIA had launched a massive covert research program in the hope that LSD would serve as an espionage weapon, psychiatric pioneers came to believe that acid would shed light on the perplexing problems of mental illness, and a new generation of writers and artists had given birth to the LSD sub-culture.

Acid Dreams is a complete social history of the psychedelic counter-culture that burst into full view in the Sixties. With new information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the authors reveal how the CIA became obsessed with LSD during the Cold War, fearing the Soviets had designs on it as well. What follows is one of the more bizarre episodes in the covert history of U.S. intelligence as the search for a “truth drug” began to resemble a James Bond scenario in which agents spied on drug-addicted prostitutes through two-way mirrors and countless unwitting citizens received acid with sometimes tragic results.

The story took a new turn when Captain Al Hubbard, the first of a series of “Johnny Appleseeds” of acid, began to turn on thousands of scientists, businessmen, church figures, policemen, and others from different walks of life.

Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, Allen Ginsberg and the Beat generation, the Diggers and the Age of Golden Anarchy in Haight-Ashbury, William Mellon Hitchcock, Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies, the Beatles—these are just some of a motley cast of characters who stride through the pages of this compelling chronicle. What impact did the widespread use of LSD have on the anti-war movement of the late Sixties? Acid Dreams traces the way the drug intensified each stage of counter-cultural transition to break the “mind-forged manacles” of a new generation in rebellion.

In Acid Dreams, Martin Lee and Bruce Shalin have written the history of a time still only dimly understood. The events they recount and the facts they uncover supply an important missing piece of the puzzle of a crucial decade in our recent past.



Praise

“Engaging throughout. . . . At once entertaining and disturbing.”—Andrew Weil, M.D., The Nation

“Marvelously detailed . . . loaded with startling revelations.”—Los Angeles Daily News

“Excellent. . . . Captivating. . . . A generalist’s history that should replace all others.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A landmark contribution to the sociopolitical history of the U.S. . . . Some of the liveliest, most absorbing, best-documented historical analyses to appear in recent years. . . . A seminal contribution to understanding America’s most turbulent modern decade.”—Choice

“This funny and irreverent book brings it all back.”—The Washington Post

“Recounts some of the most bizarre incidents in the history of U.S. intelligence.”—The Boston Globe

“A monumental social history of psychedelia.”—The Village Voice

“A blistering exposé of CIA drug experimentation on Americans. It’s all there.”—John Stockwell

“Highly readable. . . . Well researched. . . . Filled with entertaining and bizarre episodes.”—The Detroit Free Press

“An important study of cultural history. . . . The scholarship is exquisite and the methods sensible.”—Allen Ginsberg

“An engrossing account of a period . . . when a tiny psychoactive molecule affected almost every aspect of Western life.”—William S. Burroughs

“A missing link, a work of combat history, a devastating combination of facts and poetry that is bound to arouse controversy.”—Paul Krassner

“An important historical synthesis of the spread and effects of a drug that served as a central metaphor for an era.”—John Sayles
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grove Press
  4. Publication date
    January 21, 1994
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780802130624
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802130624
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This fascinating study examines how the CIA tested LSD on unwitting residents of Greenwich Village and San Francisco. Of particular interest are profiles of Timothy Leary, LSD chemist Ronald Stark and others.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0802130623
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; Revised edition (January 21, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780802130624
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802130624
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 428 ratings

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  1. Bruce Shlain

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  2. Martin A. Lee

    Martin A. Lee

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
428 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book interesting, full of good information, and awesome. They describe it as a great read that covers everything. Readers also find the writing good, with lots of depth and wide-ranging coverage. They say the book is shocking, riveting, and disturbing.

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ReadabilityDepthSuspensefulDifficulty to put downHumor
50 customers mention "Readability"50 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting, full of good information, and hard to put down. They say it's an excellent study of the history of the LSD period in U.S. History. Readers also mention the book is profusely documented and enhances their writing with a reliable source.

"...This book also has some humor, some horror, and a lot of insight. Very readable. Literally hard to put down. Highly recommended." Read more

"...with a history essay for college and it definitely enhanced my writing with a reliable source...." Read more

"...in all this history/documentary clips along very well and holds the reader's interest as it unfolds the LSD story in considerable detail...." Read more

"...Overall, this book is an interesting and entertaining read, and I recommend it to fans of the genre." Read more

6 customers mention "Depth"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book has depth, wide-ranging coverage, and interesting information. They say it's an excellent selection for anyone interested in learning more about the history of LSD.

"...This is about as wide-ranging a book as one could possibly imagine on the subject...." Read more

"...The writing is good and lots of depth for what is covered." Read more

"...It covers everything...." Read more

"...This book covers a very specialized interest, and it does it beautifully. I loved it from start to finish...." Read more

4 customers mention "Suspenseful"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book suspenseful, riveting, and disturbing. They also mention it has humor, horror, and insight.

"...This book also has some humor, some horror, and a lot of insight. Very readable. Literally hard to put down. Highly recommended." Read more

"...Nonetheless, _Acid Dreams_ is a riveting and disturbing account of the CIA's misuse and misapplication of mind control drugs...." Read more

"An amazing compilation of many years of dedicated study, informative, shocking (with relation to the depth of the governments involvement) and..." Read more

"Amazing shocking and very sad story..." Read more

3 customers mention "Difficulty to put down"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book difficult to put down. They mention it has a number of surprising things.

"...Very readable. Literally hard to put down. Highly recommended." Read more

"...This is the book. It's very hard to put down and a number of surprising things will leave you gasping and saying, "Not possible!" Even..." Read more

"...The book reads very smoothly and is hard to put down." Read more

3 customers mention "Humor"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book funny and fun to read. They appreciate the anecdotes regarding the CIA's activities.

"...This book also has some humor, some horror, and a lot of insight. Very readable. Literally hard to put down. Highly recommended." Read more

"...The authors provide many amusing anecdotes regarding the CIA's activities, such as slipping acid in each other's morning coffee just to see how..." Read more

"Really funny/fun book to read, as it's endlessly shining light on topics and myths that you hear tossed around in pop culture or even among your..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Baranabus
5.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustive history and highly entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2012
Verified Purchase
While I was born in '65 and can't attest to the accuracy of events and spirit of the times, this was written by two legit writers, not conspiracy theorists, even though some of the wackier, even more sinister events, may sound like conspiracy theory. Although the MK Ultra experiments are well documented, there is so much strange history here that it's hard to summarize. Essentially, the book traces the three main camps of LSD proponents and dabblers: The CIA/Military, interested in using it to break down prisoners and to use it for interrogation; Psychiatrists, interested in therapeutic and occasionally dubious research projects on its effects on the mind; and the Counterculture, including the New Left, Hippies, Yippees and beyond, interested in, as Kesey put it, 'turning the lab rats against their oppressors' and using the drug to transform individual consciousness and therefore all of culture.

There are all kinds of unlikely combinations of people intermingling with each other, including "Captain Trips", a former spy -turned Acid advocate hanging out with Aldous Huxley and both opining on the transformative nature of the drug. There are so many strange intersections of culture, psychology, politics, drug culture, horrifying military research, and overall weird agendas that I can see now that the sixties were far weirder than I'd ever thought.

The authors also note how LSD can be sort of a neutral mind-expanding agent that depends a lot upon context and environment, thus they have a fairly open-minded attitude about how it can be both used and abused. The book was neither strictly ruling it out as automatically inducing incurable psychosis and brain damage, or naively endorsing it as a social cure-all, the way Ginsberg and others did (who sound surprisingly daffy, given how informed and erudite Ginsberg was-- ah! hindsight!)

I also loved the part about the New Left and how acid played a part in giving the movement an almost magical-thinking type of mentality, losing sight of what was really realistic. It also confirmed my suspicions about certain types of radicals who have no patience with the more mundane aspects of activism (the so-called "Action" faction of the radical movement who thought organizers were boring sell-outs-- there are still these types of radicals today. Adrenaline junkies who have no patience for boring tasks and basically rationalize their tendencies as being 'pure'. Ugh!)

That chapter even put Manson's wacky revolutionary paranoia into context, and how his followers could actually believe his apocalyptic theories (including a series of underground lakes beneath Death Valley!!!) as you see how repeated use of the drug, along with severe isolation and cultish behavior, could make people really nuts. (Having just read a lot of stuff about the Family, I was puzzled how people could be so stupid and crazy; this chapter really puts that into context- how so many people were anticipating a violent revolution).

This book also has some humor, some horror, and a lot of insight. Very readable. Literally hard to put down. Highly recommended.
14 people found this helpful
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elo
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024
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Great book for an average reader. Scooped to help with a history essay for college and it definitely enhanced my writing with a reliable source.

Recommend for anyone looking to learn about LSD’s rise in America, as well as a lot of stuff about the hippies and rebel movements.
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Michael
4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Flashbacks
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015
Verified Purchase
Fascinating book. At times a bit slow, but all in all this history/documentary clips along very well and holds the reader's interest as it unfolds the LSD story in considerable detail. This is about as wide-ranging a book as one could possibly imagine on the subject.

After reading it, many people would feel the most important conclusion to be drawn from this story is that the CIA inadvertently triggered much of the anti-war movement of the 1960s, along with the emergence of the hippie counterculture and its culmination in the 1967 San Francisco Summer of Love, as unlikely as all that might seem.

This book tells how and a lot more.

Interesting stuff about Timothy Leary and his place in the Acid story, with a passing bow to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Fascinating glimpses behind the scenes of the shocking protests and police repression that took place outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago; the advent of the Students for a Democratic Society, and even some of the inner workings of the Black Panthers.

In somewhat of a surprise, the author suggests that LSD may have had a significant dampening effect on the more radical political movements of the mid to late 60s.

As an indication of how wild (almost eccentric) this book is in places, picture CIA agents secretly spiking fellow agents' drinks with LSD. Be a fly on the wall observing the inner workings of the business operations of the Southern California Acid mafia that took over distribution of LSD after Owsley Stanley split the scene.

This reviewer hesitates to label any book as a Must Read; but for anyone doing extensive research into the phenomenon of the 1960s, this book is in fact a must-read. And for those who participated in the wild ride of the acid-drenched days of the 1960s, this book will prove to be a fun (and instructive) read as well. For those who never tripped, it will nevertheless give a much clearer understanding of this drug and its place in what was surely the most radical period of change in American cultural history.
14 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Claudia77
2.0 out of 5 stars Arrivato leggermente danneggiato
Reviewed in Italy on September 18, 2022
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Rimandato perché acquisto errato. Poi anche leggermente danneggiato.
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Claudia77
2.0 out of 5 stars Arrivato leggermente danneggiato
Reviewed in Italy on September 18, 2022
Rimandato perché acquisto errato. Poi anche leggermente danneggiato.
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Jaffar Karim
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever
Reviewed in Germany on January 10, 2021
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Best book I’ve read in ages. Clearly this is THE BOOK to read on the subject. All other books I’e read on the subject are based more or less on this book. Though it’s been 50 years the end of the book says it all: it ain’t over yet!
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alex
5.0 out of 5 stars this is a must read! for everyone!
Reviewed in Canada on December 3, 2019
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mindblowing!
and all of it is documented.
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MA
5.0 out of 5 stars great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2019
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page turner
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Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, mind blowing book
Reviewed in Australia on November 4, 2023
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Anyone who wants to get an insight into the history, intrigues, politics and civil rights around the drug LSD, then this book is a must read. Easy, free flowing narrative packed with heaps of interesting and eye opening facts, which is a sign of a terrific author.
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