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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
One of the most essential works on the 1960s counterculture, Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Test ushered in an era of New Journalism.
This is the seminal work on the hippie culture, a report on what it was like to follow along with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they launched the "Transcontinental Bus Tour" from the West Coast to New York, all while introducing acid (then legal) to hundreds of like-minded folks, staging impromptu jam sessions, dodging the Feds, and meeting some of the most revolutionary figures of the day.
"An American classic" (Newsweek) that defined a generation. "An astonishing book" (The New York Times Book Review) and an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the psychedelic 1960s.
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Reviews
Revisit the time of your lives
By Papa Colada
I knew the lore. I’d heard the music. But I didn’t know just how crazy it was. This takes you inside the beautiful madness of a group of people that truly redefined the counterculture in America. And in the end, they “blew it”. Wolfe’s writing is detached but observant. Like an eye in the sky. He knows all and sees all. The picture he paints has drugs and sex and drugs and violence and drugs and rock n roll and drugs. But behind it all was a naive optimism. Doomed optimism.
By WWABLES
An odd book about odd folks in an odd time.. written in a style that demands you abandon any hope of linearity, or plot, or character development until you come out the other end and put it all together. I didn’t really enjoy reading the book, but was glad I did when I finished it.
By claybosler
I was born in 1964, so by the time I came of age, the psychedelic movement was over, and the war on drugs was full on. I was just behind it though, and it shaped in explicit and subtle ways everything I experienced in the 70’s and 80’s. There is a lot to read out there about psychedelics, about the late 60’s, about the war and the Haight and everything that was going on, and I’ve read much of that, too. But reading this is different because of the way Wolfe wrote it. Its not just a documentary, and it’s not a journalistic account. It’s more like a Picasso. Wolfe puts words on the page in an attempt to give the reader the first hand experience of being there. Since I missed it, and couldn’t be there, I’m thankful for that because the movement improved the world at the time. It elevated the collective awareness and I think we need a shot of that again now. America needs a good trip, a day-glo movie, another bunch of Pranksters!
By Heehee haha
I have been to over 160 grateful dead shows in my life and reading this book ranks right up there among them all makes me long for those days gone by and remember boys and girls never trust a prankerster. Tom Wolfe was at his best when he put pen to paper on this book
By Grateful John