9 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary portrait of underground cartoonist Robert Crumb — creator of Fritz the Cat and Keep on Truckin' — which explores the relationship between Crumb's disturbing sexuality, chaotic family of origin, and artistic genius.
Hunter S. Thompson's 1972 Gonzo journalism classic — narrating a drug-fueled road trip to Las Vegas with his attorney — which functions as an autopsy of the 1960s dream and a portrait of American excess.
Timothy Leary's autobiography — covering his Harvard years, his transformation into a psychedelic guru, his imprisonment, escape from prison (aided by the Weather Underground), and exile in Algeria and Switzerland.
American journalist — inventor of Gonzo journalism — author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell's Angels — who placed himself at the center of his stories, blurring the line between reporter and participant — whose style influenced every major magazine journalist of the subsequent 30 years.
American novelist and counterculture leader who wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest while participating in government LSD experiments, then founded the Merry Pranksters — making him the bridge figure between the Beat Generation and the 1960s counterculture.
American left-wing magazine published from 1962 to 1975 that was the most widely read radical political publication in the US, first publishing Che Guevara's diaries and helping bring the Black Panther Party to national prominence.
Tom Wolfe's account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters — the founding document of New Journalism and the defining portrait of the early 1960s psychedelic counterculture.
Leary's collection of essays and interviews on the political and social implications of psychedelic consciousness expansion — the intellectual foundation of his cultural advocacy.
Stewart Brand's periodical publication running from 1968 to 1998 that curated tools, books, and resources for self-sufficient living — described by Steve Jobs as 'Google before Google' and an inspiration for the internet's original information-access ethic.