Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America Hardcover – March 29, 2016

"Something out there churns again, a power that's hard to place, sometimes overlapping with the new explorers, but just as often not.""The Dead and their hordes require vast tracts of space to fully unfurl their carpet across the landscape and take their substances and dance and congregate.""The question is, can we do it and stay high?" Jerry Garcia.For those interested in the psychedelic subculture in America this book pretty much lays it all out in an easy to read and understand style. If you grew up in that era (roughly beginning in the late '60s) no doubt you're familiar with that scene. And the author has put together a number of narratives that put much of that whole scene (from East Coast to West Coast) in perspective if you weren't "tuned in". Some narratives are related, others not. But everything is tied together with the band the Grateful Dead who pop up throughout much of this book. Saying that, is this a book about The Dead? Not really but kind of."The ins and outs of stonerdom act as a subtle and ongoing counterpoint that sometimes intersects directly with the psychedelic narrative."If you're a fan of the band (like me beginning in 1967) the book is even more interesting and informative. The Dead is there from just about the beginning up through the end of the book, so important are they to the story--not only the band itself but the people who came together around them and made up a large part of that entire scene--artists, musicians, writers, poets, academics, heads, and anyone else loosely tied to that whole scene that was growing and spreading across America. Jarnow weaves a tale that begins, and goes through here, and then there, then through that, and pops out the other side of this subculture. And along the way we meet all sorts of people--some big, some smaller in the story, but all a part of that greater electric-mind-melting sheet of blotter acid that was (and is) psychedelic America."I believed, like a bunch of other people, that if Kennedy and Krushchev took some LSD together, we'd have world peace forever." Peter Stampfel."Reggae and the many genres it spawns become entries to a borderless global drug culture with it's own vast roots."Basically beginning with the Acid Tests/Trips Festival (but I was also happy to see touching on the "The Last Acid Test" labeled by Neil Meriwether, in 1972, at Veneta, Oregon benefiting the Springfield Creamery, the "Sunshine Daydream" 3 CD/1 DVD box set, one of the Grateful Dead's best shows and a personal favorite of the period) and those early years of the '70s/'80s/,90s, then moving into the era of Burning Man and Bonnaroo, author Jesse Jarnow weaves together a picture that takes in not only The Dead, but other musicians including Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders, a true early psyche-folk duo) and his connection with LSD back in the days when only a few people knew what "acid" was, and Phish who, for a new generation, were treated similar to The Dead in their day. Plus poets/writers like Ginsberg, Kesey, Kupferberg, Sanders, and others, academics including (of course) Leary, the ARPANET and SAIL, where as Stewart Brand wrote at the time, "These are heads. Half or more of computer science is heads.", plus the Merry Pranksters, Owsley ("the person soon most responsible for psychedelicizing the United States"), LSD discoverer Albert Hoffmann (for which "Bicycle Day" is celebrated), keeper of the Grateful Dead tape vault Dick Latvala ("Swallowed peyote tar balls and listened to Dead concert tapes."), and various artists like Keith Haring ("I saw the Grateful Dead and got high."), and others including Hippies, Yippies, Zippies (psychedelicized pranksters), and others of that period that are all part of the psychedelic picture of America at that time. And all have a seemingly interwoven connection to each other and the growing counter culture at large and the LSD subculture in particular."Computers are good news, maybe the best since psychedelics." Stewart Brand."We have a kind of continuity, from off the street to outer space, so to speak." Jerry Garcia.The b&w photos help put faces and other images to the text. Included is an early photo of The Fugs in their East Village glory, the Grateful Dead, artist/LSD dealer Johnny Crunch, and others. Also here (but I wish the photos were in color) are pictures of sheets of blotter acid with their unique artwork, a photo of Albert Hoffman (discoverer of LSD), underground chemists, and others who were connected to this subculture.Taken together, the text and photos give an in-depth look into that whole scene from it's beginnings, through the seventies/eighties/nineties, and up through the recent past. This isn't a dry treatise on the deleterious use of LSD or a book full of statistics. Instead Jarnow has written an interesting and informative story of psychedelics in America, and how, from areas like New York and San Francisco, this new subculture began branching throughout America as--"... the heads connect and reconnect across a bohemian circuit of folk clubs, coffee houses, music shops, bookstores, shared apartments, and crash pads...". And being a deep fan of The Dead I found (of course) the many parts of the book dealing with the band and everything that revolves around them especially interesting. This is a very readable book that sheds some interesting and informative light on a part of, and a time in, America I thought I knew fairly well. But even as a first-hand observer of all that was happening around me while I was a college student in Palo Alto in the late '60s/early '70s (the music was fantastic), this book showed me there was a lot more going on than I could see in front of me."Grateful Dead shows continue to remain sites of active counterculture. Besides being a place to take LSD and dance, one of the very few left, they are a place where old friends meet and where narratives spontaneously collide or brush up against one another, putting unexpected ideas into close proximity. As the '70s get going and the '60s really get to ending, a ticket to a Dead show remains a ticket to the unbroken psychedelic America."There's an Introduction, 393 pages of text, 32 pages of photos, a list of the many dozens of interviews Jarnow did for the book, 18 pages of sources, 27 pages of notes, and an (much needed) index.

Wow, what a wonderful book! This is so well crafted, so well written, that when I finished, I got the “I won’t find anything like this again” Blues! Rich in accurate, historical knowledge detailing the psychedelic past and present. I was a little weary on this purchase since I wasn’t sure if this would have the detail I was looking for, but after reading reviews on this book, I thought why not give it a shot? I did, and I have been raving about this book ever since. It ties in so much of what I have learned and experienced about life, music, art, countercultures, politics and historical figures that this brought everything full circle. If you are a Grateful Dead fan, for gosh sakes, read this! I have read all the books about the dead and other historical bands of the past and present, the hippies, the beats, the Pranksters, the poets and journalists, etc. this takes all that knowledge, meticulously weaves it together chronologically, and with precision and perfection, paints the best mental projection possible. Exciting from start to finish, we should thank our lucky stars that psychedelics flooded American (and world) culture. Simply put, with out the expansive consciousness that psychedelics brought out in our complex minds, we would not have the rights and freedoms that are available today. Literally every culture going back to the dawn of discovery owes our knowledge and existence to mind expanding products and practices. I personally, nor does this book condone the use of illegal substances, but understanding just how important psychedelics were and are to humans is beyond mere words. As certain substances continue to be experimented with in laboratories and in nature, we come giant steps closer to understanding life, death and everything in between. This is such a monumental read, it really brings all of humanity’s greatest achievements together by understanding that when humans put their egos aside, work together, and think about the bigger picture, we can rally accomplish so much...with out having to resort to war, with out letting the poor stay poor, and so forth. This book is a true trip into the past, present and the future. This is an important piece of literature and a must read. Music, art, history, technology, politics, agriculture, botany, mathematics, religion, it’s all here in beautifully written form...I can’t say enough so I will leave it at that - this book was, is and always will be an incredibly informative piece of work!

This book might as well be the story of my life. As a longtime and very proud Deadhead, I cannot say enough about this amazing book. Jarnow really did his homework. His writing transports you to the world of psychedelic Grateful Dead music, including the always interesting parking lot scene ("Shakedown Street") where any head could get what he needed before/after the show(s). You feel that you are not only on tour with the Dead, but that you've been there since the beginning. I've read every other GD book out there and there are some good ones. This one really paints the perfect picture of what it is/was like to be a "HEAD." You will love it!

This book is a huge accomplishment. What an insane amount of threads to try to untangle and follow to weave this into an actual coherent image and Jarnow did it!If you've ever thought of yourself as any sort of "Head", this is your history and well worth a read.

Extremely detailed oriented. Puts you in the scene. Lot's of memories induced and included... If you were or are a Head from Yesteryear, you will not be disappointed... Where's the Orange Sunshine?????

I thoroughly enjoyed this inside look into the scene in and around the Grateful Dead and the role that psychedelics played in its evolution as a force to be reckoned with. Jarnow effortlessly weaves dozens of interviews into a narrative format that takes the reader on a wild ride through one of the seminal periods of the modern day revolution. This book is a page-turner!

A good gift thanks

A fantastic read, his use of the 68 alternative map,of the world to tie the various narrative threads together is ingenious. A fascinating look into the alternative head community, whole, literally thousands of other head communities existed in North America this is angriest read about a few of the more famous ones. It is a great exploration of the incredible vehicle for the spread of consciousness raising through psychedelics by the grateful dead and the touring scene. Recommended by the 'thoughts on the dead' blog it was a great book. It brought back a lot of memories of great times with great people exploring the world.

This started off well enough but quickly turned into a diatribe for all things Greatful Dead. Dont get me wrong, I love the Dead but this is not a history of psychedelic America and falls far short of what one would expect from the title. dont waste your money. There are plenty of great history books on the subject. this is not one.

Great book recommended reading for pop-cultural historians. It contains many rare secrets and stories about various psychedelic legends. File next to the psychedelic experience :)

Enthralling and brilliant.