Monday, June 14, 2004
In "Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000," by Martin Torgoff, he refers to his own drug use and abuse throughout the book. Besides using his own story, he fuels the book with a polyphonic spree of supporting characters, among them storied beats Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac; psychedelic superheroes Timothy Leary and Terence McKenna; fallen jazz greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie; tragic rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison; cult figures Ram Dass and Wavy Gravy. The result is a sweeping epic that bounces between orgiastic nostalgia trip and cautionary tale -- and, at times, like the drugs themselves, can assault the senses.
Mixing oral history, autobiography and a large dose of firsthand sources from High Times to Foreign Policy, the book moves across time and culture, starring one drug after another, from marijuana to MDMA.
Salon Link; Amazon Link
War stories that are worth a look...
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