THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America autorstwa Don Lattin

The lives and times of four men--Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass), Andrew Weil and Huston Smith--whose paths crossed in the Sixties with the infamous Harvard Psilocybin Project, and who consequently changed the course of American culture and launched the Mind/Body/Spirit movement.

This book is the story of how three brilliant scholars and one ambitious freshman crossed paths in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the winter of 1960-61, and how their experiences in a psychedelic drug research project transformed their lives and much of American culture in the 1960s and 1970s.

They came together in a time of upheaval and experimentation, and they set the stage for the social, spiritual, sexual and psychological revolution of the 1960s. Huston Smith would be the teacher, practicing every world religion and educating three generations of Americans to adopt a more tolerant, inclusive attitude toward other culture’s religions. Richard Alpert would be the seeker, traveling to India, returning to America as “Ram Dass” and reborn as a spiritual leader with his “Be Here Now” mantra, inspiring a restless army of spiritual pilgrims. Andrew Weil would be the healer, becoming the undisputed leader of alternative medicine, devoting his life to the holistic reformation of the American health care system. And Timothy Leary would play the rebellious trickster, the premier proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD, advising a generation to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.”

There’s would be a time of joy, a time of peace and a time of love. There were also times of backstabbing, jealousy and outright betrayal. But each in his own way, the members of The Harvard Psychedelic Club changed the way Americans view religion and practice medicine, nothing less than the way we look at body and soul.


O Autorze: Don Lattin is one of the nation’s leading journalists covering alternative and mainstream religious movements and figures in America. He is the author of Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge, Following Our Bliss: How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives Today, and is the co-author of Shopping for Faith - American Religion in the New Millennium.  His work has appeared in dozens of U.S. magazines and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, where Don covered the religion beat for nearly two decades. He has also worked as a consultant and commentator for “Dateline” NBC; “PrimeTime Live,” “Good Morning America” and “Nightline” on ABC Television; “Anderson Cooper 360” and “American Morning” on CNN; and “Religion and Ethics News Weekly” on PBS.


Prasa o książce:

 “In this beautifully constructed study, Lattin (Jesus Freaks) brings together four of the most memorable figures from that period…this is a fast-moving, dispassionate recounting of a seminal period in our history, and all in all, a wonderful book.” - Publishers Weekly

 “This energetic study of the time all four were together at Harvard tells much about today’s culture….Some laugh-aloud passages make this an entertaining read, but the underlying exploration of the sociocultural reasons for the extravaganza that was the 1960s merits attention, especially from those interested in the period.” - Booklist (starred review)


“In this rollicking…group biography, Mr. Lattin does a lovely, gently humorous job of setting this scene and bringing these men together…’The Harvard Psychedelic Club’ is packed with vibrant details…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy just about every page of ‘The Harvard Psychedelic Club.’ This groovy story unfurls — chronicling the lives of men who were brilliant but damaged, soulful but vengeful, zonked out but optimistic and wry — like a ready-made treatment for a sprawling, elegiac and crisply comic movie” - New York Times

 Informative and highly entertaining…Many of the stories in this book have been told elsewhere, but Lattin tells them with new energy and weaves them together to create a satisfying narrative that re-creates and explains the era.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Inherently captivating… The Harvard Psychedelic [Club]'s intimate, revealing vista makes the book soar, and, as Lattin hopes, just might inspire today's idealists to carve a new path and profoundly change the world as these four dynamic visionaries once did.” - Miami Herald