Timothy Leary: A Biography [excerpts]

Description

To a generation in full revolt against any form of authority, "Tune in, turn on, drop out" became a mantra, and its popularizer, Dr. Timothy Leary, a guru. A charismatic and brilliant psychologist, Leary became first intrigued and then obsessed by the effects of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s while teaching at Harvard, where he not only encouraged but instituted their experimental use among students and faculty. What began as research into human consciousness turned into a mission to alter consciousness itself. Leary transformed himself from serious social scientist into counterculture shaman, embodying the idealism and the hedonism of an age of revolutionary change. Timothy Leary is the first major biography of one of the most controversial figures in postwar America. Someone told the author, "Those who love Timothy Leary will hate your book. And those who hated him will never read it.” As a respected, skillful and thorough investigative journalist the author walks the middle line, reporting both sides of issues that arise. Roughly half of the 49 chapters that appear in the paper copy of the book are presented in this abridged electronic edition. Those sections are marked with [present] Dreaming of Heroes: Springfield, Massachusetts, 1920-1938 1 The Long Gray Line: West Point, New York, June 1940-August 1941 25 The Berkeley Circle: Berkeley, California, 1941-1958 57 God and Man at Harvard: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958-1963 99 [present] Xanadu: Millbrook, New York, 1963-1968 201 [present] Come Together: California, 1968-1970 327 Escape and Flight: San Luis Obispo, California, March-September 1970 375 Exile—No Silence, No Cunning: September 1970-January 1973 399 Folsom Prison Blues: California, January 1973-May 1976 455 To Live and Die in LA: California, June 1976-May 31, 1996 529 [present] Acknowledgments 603 [present] A Note on Sources 606 [present] Reading List [present] About the Author [present]