Steeped in research, but reading like a fast-paced novel, Stevens' story begins with pioneering psychologists discovering the effects on the mind of mescaline and psilocybin, the role of the CIA in testing mind-control drugs, the evolution of Timothy Leary from Harvard research psychologist to the most "dangerous man in America", the wrenching changes from the repressed 50's to the upheavals of the 60s, and along the way giving us portraits of some of the most colorful characters in modern American history, including Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Aldous Huxley, and Jack Kerouac

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