Acid Dreams

The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond

By: Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This audiobook for the first time tells the full and astounding story - part of it hidden till now in secret Government files - of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time. And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science until it spilled into public view some 20 years later to set the stage for one of the great ideological wars of the decade. In the intervening years the CIA had launched a massive covert research program in the hope that LSD would serve as an espionage weapon, psychiatric pioneers came to believe that acid would shed light on the perplexing problems of mental illness, and a new generation of writers and artists had given birth to the LSD sub-culture. Acid Dreams is a complete social history of the psychedelic counter-culture that burst into full view in the Sixties. With new information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the authors reveal how the CIA became obsessed with LSD during the Cold War, fearing the Soviets had designs on it as well. What follows is one of the more bizarre episodes in the covert history of U.S. intelligence as the search for a "truth drug” began to resemble a James Bond scenario in which agents spied on drug-addicted prostitutes through two-way mirrors and countless unwitting citizens received acid with sometimes tragic results.

©1985 Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain. Introduction ©1992 by Andrei Codrescu. Afterword ©1992 by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Educational

If you could sum up Acid Dreams in three words, what would they be?

Surprising, eye opening

What did you like best about this story?

Details of the pre-sixties government involvement.

Which character – as performed by Oliver Wyman – was your favorite?

na

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Extreme interest.

Any additional comments?

Such a powerful part of my youth hitherto not understood. I have generally found LSD to be a taboo subject. Perhaps because the "experienced" fear a social stigma. Perhaps they are left with many questions and uncertainties better left undisturbed. Yet it remains one of the most powerful experiences of many lives.

This history of acid provided me with perspective. The authors illustrate amply the many conflicting points of view; the positive and negatives of the psychedelic experience. And, most importantly, it provides an opportunity for discussion.

Many thanks to the authors.

Great education

This book provides a great history portrayed across 3 or more perspectives. It’s incredible. One of my all time favorite books.

Captivating and insightful.

This was an incredible listen. A thorough overview of the wild history of LSD in the US, and the counterculture that it helped stoke. I found it absolutely fascinating, and learned so much about the 60's and 70's in the process. Especially given the trajectory of our current drug reform, this topic feels very relevant.

So good that I was sad when it ended

Fantastic! A classic that stands the test of time. Very glad it is on Audible. The CIA was the Johny Appleseed of LSD. Agents used it on others and used it themselves. So many threads in the story of LSD go back to the agency. Only in America do stories this crazy turn out to be true.

Ultra Interesting

Acid Dreams is two books in one, both of them interesting, at least to those (like me) who remain fascinated by the 1960s. That is one strand followed closely by Lee and Shlain -- the history of the 1960s as seen through the prism of one of its primary catalysts, the drug that fuelled a generation that altered the course of American politics and society.

The other thread may prove to be topical even to readers who have no explicit interest in the 60s or in LSD -- the CIA's involvement in experimenting with this and other drugs as tactical tools during the Cold War, and possibly in illegal domestic efforts as agents provocateurs to discredit political dissidence, and maybe even (if you're into diehard conspiracy theory) to enrich themselves at the expense of the general welfare via the drug trade.

The book begins, after quickly reviewing the discovery of LSD, with the CIA's MK Ultra program, undertaken during the 1950s, centering around acid as a biological weapon, and going so far as to test the potent hallucinogen on unsuspecting Americans riding the New York subway system, released in aerosol form in a subway car. Crazy stuff, extremely disturbing. The book concludes with a look at the elusive Ron Stark, drug dealer supreme and formentor of revolution in the U.S. and beyond while likely working for the CIA.

There is an incredible cast of characters here, from the well-known -- Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsburg, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, Charlie Manson, the Beatles -- to others who exemplify the aphorism that truth is often stranger than fiction -- the Diggers, the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, Captain Al Hubbard, Billy Mellon Hitchcok, Owsley Stanley, the aforementioned superspy Ron Stark, and assorted figures of pure evil working for the CIA, epitomized by George White, his subway test only the most outrageous of his systematic dosing of unsuspecting people.

My only quibble with the book is that it cannot really be a "complete social history" without a closer look at the cultural aspects of psychedelia. There is no escaping the music, with the Beatles getting their due attention, but there was more to it than that, and the influence on cinema and art is ignored altogether -- which is a shame, because one of the biggest names to emerge from the psychedelic cinema of the 1960s, Jack Nicholson, is never mentioned in this book.

A history of substance and cloture

While the second half of the book does tend to dull over some small sections; overall this was a fantastic history of the substance. The authors did a great job of weaving in the counterculture in a way that shone light on the ideals and morals without making an overall judgment. I have already recommended this book, with the caveat that at times it only appealed to the scholar in me, and left part of me longing for more classic historical context.

A strange and compelling trip it has been...

The story of LSD, and psychedelics in general, is fascinating. Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain create a well researched, written and entertaining exploration, illuminating this long and strange trip.

Oliver Wyman reads with a clear voice.

🤩

what an amazing book. I now understand the 60s for the first time . recommend reading for every one. i am 39 and never took acid before but looking forward to

Answered a lot of questions.

If you lived in this era, then read this book. The questions I had about the better living through chemistry era were answered in this book. I loved it. I grew up in the Bay Area when I was a kid and lived this changing world. The doctors fed us speed for hyperactivity gave mom tranquilizer dad drank. We made it through. I miss the LSD. To bad it did not give out a formula.

Turned Me On

A fantastic and eye opening listen. From CIA Spooks to Hippies. Turn On Tune In