Acid dreams
by Martin A. Lee · first published 1985
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Well-documented history of LSD's cultural and political role, especially the CIA's MKUltra experiments and the 1960s counterculture; recommended to readers curious about the era and psychedelics' place in it.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Acid Dreams is the complete social history of LSD and the counterculture it helped to define in the sixties. Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain's exhaustively researched and astonishing account - part of it gleaned from secret government files - tells how the CIA became obsessed with LSD as an espionage weapon during the early 1950s and launched a massive covert research program, in which countless unwitting citizens were used as guinea pigs. Though the CIA was intent on keeping the drug to itself, it ultimately couldn't prevent it from spreading into the popular culture; here LSD had a profound imp
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…proof: The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade http://www.amazon.com/The-Politics-Heroin-Complicity-Global/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Heroin_in_South... Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond http://www.amazon.com/Acid-Dreams-Complete-History-Sixties/d... The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness…
on “U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans” ↗To anyone interested in this era and the role psychedelics played in it, I'd highly recommend a book called Acid Dreams.[1] The writings of many of the personages mentioned in this article are also well worth reading: Richard Alpert (aka Ram Das), Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner. Also, not mentioned but on the same wavelength:…
on “An estate in Upstate NY where the psychedelic 60s took off” ↗…Leary himself, but I think this all ties together and it's hard to make sense of it without knowing how many of these pieces fit together. There's much more to say about this too. I recommend the book Acid Dreams for a good introduction.
on “Psychedelic Pioneer and Confidence Man” ↗…questions. Your mind seems open and you are expressing a willingness to learn. To that end I recommend the following books: The Psychedelics Experience by Peter Stafford Pikhal by Alexander Shulgin Acid Dreams by Lee and Shlain The Illuminatus Trilogy by Shea and Wilson Plants of the Gods by Richard Evans Schultes The Archaic Revival by Terrence McKenna The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide by James Fadiman…
on “Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo” ↗…CIA and drugs, I recommend the following: - The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade by Alfred W. McCoy [1] - Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press by Alexander Cockburn [2] - Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond by Martin A. Lee [3] [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Politics-Heroin-Complicity-Global/... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-The-CIA-Drugs-Press/dp/185984...…
on “Block NSA funding for collecting the call records of all Americans” ↗…beyond "The Matrix" and authority, and a gateway to a new spiritual world. While the establishment were trying to use it as a tool for psychological manipulation. A good book that cover the history is Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain. If you want to learn more about LSD and computer culture, read What the Dormouse Said by John Markoff.…
on “Project MKUltra” ↗…them of being selfish assholes. No, it'll give them a bad trip and they will hang you by your own guts. This (and more) had already been tried fifty years ago, read about project MKULtra and the book "Acid Dreams".
on “NSA secretly conducted illegal searches on Americans for years” ↗Agree with all you've written, just wanted to call out how Pollan painted the tension between Hubbard and Leary specifically. I'll check out the book Acid Dreams and I just ordered Electric Kool Aid Test to get a better understanding of the merry prankster scene. I believe some of the 60's and 70's youth found sustainable ways to live outside the mainstream,…
on “Psychedelic Pioneer and Confidence Man” ↗2 books I recommend for anyone interested in the history of this stuff are "Acid Dreams" and "How to Change Your Mind". The latter is a bit more pop-sciency, and the former is probably more factually accurate (though who can say, it's a lot of he-said-she-said). For a fun read on the topic,…
on “Owsley Stanley: The King of LSD (2011)” ↗…felt that there was nothing more to learn from it so I stopped. They kept on for a few more years. I read as many books as I could get my hands on from the library, including a fascinating book called "Acid Dreams" which told how LSD was used by the CIA for research into a possible truth serum. While I would not recommend LSD to anyone for recreational purposes now, it is important that we can learn more about…
on “Dr. LSD to Steve Jobs: How was your trip?” ↗…They are well-documented facts that everyone seems to forget about. If your interested in this stuff I suggest you read the books The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade [4] and Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond [5]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Heroin_in_South... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Midnight_Climax…
I recommend reading “Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond“ It covers MKUltra’s LSD experiments.
on “Canadian government gag order in CIA brainwashing case” ↗The classic work on this is "Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond" by Lee & Shain. The Chapter "In the Beginning There Was Madness" covers the crazy era of MK-ULTRA (and the Frank Olson case, in…
on “Was Modern Art a CIA Psy-Op?” ↗If you want the real story on current CIA tradecraft (at least on the digital side): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7 For the rest of it, see books like "Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner, or "Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA and the Sixties". A lot of that is about CIA recruitment and influence operations, which is perhaps not the kind of 'tradecraft' the CIA likes to popularize,…
on “A Tradecraft Primer – CIA” ↗> Anybody who hasn't, do read to see how much they were ready to do. Abductions or just "anal probes" are nothing compared to their actions. I remember reading declassified documents from MKUltra in Acid Dreams. It was pure fear and paranoia, they were scared that if they don't quickly learn how to use LSD as truth serum or mind control agent, the evil Ruskies are going to figure it out and strike first. They…
on “CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents” ↗