Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psych

Description: Tripping on Utopia by Benjamin Breen A Los Angeles Times Bestseller One of The New Yorkers best books of 2024 A bold and brilliant revisionist take on the history of psychedelics in the twentieth century, illuminating how a culture of experimental drugs shaped the Cold War and the birth of Silicon Valley. "It was not the Baby Boomers who ushered in the first era of widespread drug experimentation. It was their parents." Far from the repressed traditionalists they are often painted as, the generation that survived the second World War emerged with a profoundly ambitious sense of social experimentation. In the 40s and 50s, transformative drugs rapidly entered mainstream culture, where they were not only legal, but openly celebrated. American physician John C. Lilly infamously dosed dolphins (and himself) with LSD in a NASA-funded effort to teach dolphins to talk. A tripping Cary Grant mumbled into a Dictaphone about Hegel as astronaut John Glenn returned to Earth. At the center of this revolution were the pioneering anthropologists--and star-crossed lovers--Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. Convinced the world was headed toward certain disaster, Mead and Bateson made it their lifes mission to reshape humanity through a new science of consciousness expansion, but soon found themselves at odds with the government bodies who funded their work, whose intentions were less than pure. Mead and Batesons partnership unlocks an untold chapter in the history of the twentieth century, linking drug researchers with CIA agents, outsider sexologists, and the founders of the Information Age. As we follow Mead and Batesons fractured love affair from the malarial jungles of New Guinea to the temples of Bali, from the espionage of WWII to the scientific revolutions of the Cold War, a new origin story for psychedelic science emerges. FORMAT Hardcover CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Benjamin Breen is the author of The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade, winner of the 2021 William H. Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine. He is an associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz and was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. He lives in Santa Cruz, California. Review "A methodologically clever book that sheds new light on the scientific history of LSD through an engaging, highly readable story that weaves a narrative far richer in detail than a typical academic history... a romp."--Science"Breen is an engaging writer invigorated by his topic, and to synthesize so much information is an accomplishment."--The New York Times Book Review"Breens smart, entertaining narrative brings this history vividly to life."--BookPage"A riveting exploration of a shadowy episode in 20th-century history."--Publishers Weekly"A captivating tale of scientific idealists and Cold War spies, love triangles and tripping dolphins, and the never-ending search to maximize human potential and make the world a better place. Deeply researched and alive with extraordinary human stories, this book will change your mind about the origins of the counterculture and the people who shaped it."--Margaret OMara, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America"The hidden history of how psychedelic drugs spread from CIA clinics and chic parties into the American counter-culture is not quite as wild as an LSD trip -- but as this book makes clear, its close. Deeply researched but also highly imaginative, Tripping on Utopia uncovers a maze of startling connections among some of the strange and fascinating characters who shaped a dazzling chapter of American cultural history."--Stephen Kinzer, author of Poisoner in Chief"Tripping on Utopia is epic in its scope, cinematic in its rendering. This masterpiece of storytelling is underpinned by impeccable research and extraordinary material that will have you questioning everything you think you know about Americas history of psychedelic drug use. Breen is an exciting new voice in narrative non-fiction."--Lindsey Fitzharris, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Facemaker"Benjamin Breen has crafted a brilliant and original history of the chemical dreamscape of American democracy. With a driving narrative and unforgettable cast of characters, Tripping on Utopia resurrects the promise, dangers, and sheer weirdness of one of the twentieth centurys unsung frontiers of discovery: the quest to change the world by altering humans perception of it."--Charles King, author of Gods of the Upper Air and Midnight at the Pera Palace"In this strikingly original new history of psychedelic science, Benjamin Breen focuses on its origins in the interwar years alongside the expansive utopian projects of that era: anthropologists studying how cultures change, cybernetic dreams of reprogramming the brain, and the fascination with other wonder drugs such as hormones, truth serums and tranquilisers. The result is a thrilling history of ideas, deeply rooted in archival research and narrated with infectious energy and enthusiasm. Tripping on Utopia is full of surprises and beautiful writing." --Mike Jay, author or Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind"Part biography, part intellectual history, this kaleidoscopic book reveals the century-long search for psychological liberation at the heart of todays fascination with psychedelics. Its a marvel of scholarship and impossible to put down."--Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism Details ISBN1538722372 Author Benjamin Breen Pages 384 Publisher Grand Central Publishing Year 2024 ISBN-13 9781538722374 Format Hardcover Publication Date 2024-01-16 Imprint Grand Central Publishing Subtitle Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2024-01-16 NZ Release Date 2024-01-16 US Release Date 2024-01-16 UK Release Date 2024-01-16 Audience General DEWEY 154.4 Illustrations Illustrations We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:157919533;

Price: 53.49 AUD

Location: Melbourne

End Time: 2024-12-05T09:10:19.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 AUD