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| The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test | 
 enlarge | Author: Tom Wolfe
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £3.38
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 10588
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0552993662
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780552993661
ASIN: 0552993662
Publication Date: February 17, 1989
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
They say if you remember the '60s, you weren't there. But, fortunately, Tom Wolfe was there, notebook in hand, politely declining LSD while Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters fomented revolution, turning America on to a dangerously playful way of thinking as their Day-Glo conveyance, Further, made the most influential bus ride since Rosa Parks's. By taking On the Road's hero Neal Cassady as his driver on the cross-country revival tour and drawing on his own training as a magician, Kesey made Further into a bully pulpit, and linked the beat epoch with hippiedom. Paul McCartney's Many Years from Now cites Kesey as a key influence on his trippy Magical Mystery Tour film. Kesey temporarily renounced his literary magic for the cause of "tootling the multitudes"--making a spectacle of himself--and Prankster Robert Stone had to flee Kesey's wild party to get his life's work done. But in those years, Kesey's life was his work, and Wolfe infinitely multiplied the multitudes who got tootled by writing this major literary-journalistic monument to a resonant pop-culture moment. Kesey's theatrical metamorphosis from the distinguished author of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest to the abominable shaman of the "Acid Test" soirees that launched The Grateful Dead required Wolfe's Day-Glo prose account to endure (though Kesey's own musings in Demon Box are no slouch either). Even now, Wolfe's book gives what Wolfe clearly got from Kesey: a contact high. --Tim Appelo, Amazon.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Excellent account of psychedelic outlaw underculture in the '60s October 18, 2007
Ken Keysey is a myth in his own time. The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, the guru of LSD culture as the more gritty and real reflection of Timothy Leary (or I should rather say Leary was Keysey's reflection).
Given this, it is only right that he should be the central subject of a book written about this culture and time, which is in essence what the Electric Kool-aid Acid Test is.
This account describes the rise and fall of LSD culture from the early 1960s. Tom Wolfe, a prominent journalist of the time documents Keyseys journey from his early involvement in official LSD experiments and his establishment of an LSD community whose primary aim was to seek enlightenment using LSD as a tool, to Keysey's ultimate rejection of LSD.
This book is a testament to the charisma and strength of Keysey's character in his ability to lead his merry bunch through their escapades across America, outraging the local conservatives in doing so. Keysey's will and skill is put to the test from such tasks as wooing the cultural intelligentia of the day to the altogether more hazardous pursuit of entertaining the Hell's Angels.
There are some excellent scenes in the book, for example incorporating the person on whom Kerouac's "On The Road" hero Moriarty, is based upon, and also a description of the meeting between Keysey and Kerouac, where the egos of the two appear to clash in a "this town ain't big enough for two intellectual authors"-type scene.
My only criticism is that Wolfe sometimes appears a little star-struck by Keysey, who is clearly highly seductive. However, he manages to maintain enough objectivity to make this book a fascinating description of the culture and politics of the 1960's, as told through the inspiring anti-convention adventures and escapades of Keysey and his disciples. I cannot but give this book 5 stars as an account of the truth behind the pop myth of the 1960's psychedelic revolution.
Not only a great read but also a great reference work of the era August 13, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Where did the saying "You're either on the bus or you're off the bus" come from ?
Who were the real people in Kerouac's On The Road ?
How did The Grateful Dead create such awesome sounds ?
What did the Pranksters think about their meeting with The Hell's Angels ? (Hunter Thompson reported it in his book of the same name - this gives the other side of the same story)
How did The Beatles come up with the idea for their Magical Mystery Tour ?
The answer to these and many more questions about the acid culture of the 60s (when it was a lot safer to pop a tab) can be found in this great read. Highly recommended for anyone who was around at the time and can't remember much about it - also recommended for those who can remember and want a great trip down memory lane.
Excellent account of psychedelic outlaw underculture in the '60s February 19, 2007
Ken Keysey is a myth in his own time. The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, the guru of LSD culture as the more gritty and real reflection of Timothy Leary (or I should rather say Leary was Keysey's reflection).
Given this, it is only right that he should be the central subject of a book written about this culture and time, which is in essence what the Electric Kool-aid Acid Test is.
This account describes the rise and fall of LSD culture from the early 1960s. Tom Wolfe, a prominent journalist of the time documents Keyseys journey from his early involvement in official LSD experiments and his establishment of an LSD community whose primary aim was to seek enlightenment using LSD as a tool, to Keysey's ultimate rejection of LSD.
This book is a testament to the charisma and strength of Keysey's character in his ability to lead his merry bunch through their escapades across America, outraging the local conservatives in doing so. Keysey's will and skill is put to the test from such tasks as wooing the cultural intelligentia of the day to the altogether more hazardous pursuit of entertaining the Hell's Angels.
There are some excellent scenes in the book, for example incorporating the person on whom Kerouac's "On The Road" hero Moriarty, is based upon, and also a description of the meeting between Keysey and Kerouac, where the egos of the two appear to clash in a "this town ain't big enough for two intellectual authors"-type scene.
My only criticism is that Wolfe sometimes appears a little star-struck by Keysey, who is clearly highly seductive. However, he manages to maintain enough objectivity to make this book a fascinating description of the culture and politics of the 1960's, as told through the inspiring anti-convention adventures and escapades of Keysey and his disciples. I cannot but give this book 5 stars as an account of the truth behind the pop myth of the 1960's psychedelic revolution.
Far Out Man! May 23, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
As somebody slightly obsessed with the major happenings of the sixties, but who missed the period by a good 10 years, I found this book compelling. I've heard stories for years by old hippies about their crazy travels, but nothing as lucid as Wolfe's excellent commentary on the Merry Pranksters. Kesey is painted as a zarathustra-esque messiah of hippiedom, leading his dedicated crew of followers into an awesome social experiment.....and not with small thanks to a little LSD! Slightly crazy, slightly dark at times, frequently funny, constantly fascinating. Wolfe seems to capture the idealistic notions of the pranksters' attempts to subvert society perfectly; as a reader you're literally bumping around the back of the bus with them. Oh for a big psychedelic school-bus!
 The true identity of the sixties May 7, 2003
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
The True Identity Of The Sixties
By:Brittany WankowskiReading Tom Wolfe’s “The electric Kool-aid acid test” is a true experience. He writes a compelling story of his personal experiences through the up and downs of the sixties. As he relives his experiences you relive them with him through detailed and mind boggling moments.
This novel is based on “the electric Kool-aid acid tests” done by ken kesey and the merry pranksters. It gives you an inside perspective from the mind of a true hippie who helped the movement. This book takes you on fascinating experience through the mysterious age during the LSD boom.
LSD was first put on the scene by ken Kesey author of “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Sometimes a Great Notion”. Ken is the first to have a true “psychedelic” experience by volunteering to be a guinea pig for a clinic. After Kesey discovers this phenomenon he spreads the new wave to his neighborhood knows as penny lane. Once LSD hit the scene it blew up into a new lifestyle, a new generation known as the sixties. As this speedily subculture spread like a disease Ken Kesey took control of the drug age and discovered “with these drugs your perception is altered enough that you find yourself looking out of completely strange eyeholes. All of us have a great deal of our minds locked shut. Were shut off from our own world. And these drugs seem to be the key to open these locked doors.”(P.44)
As the new generation forms ken Kesey is put in jail for his second arrest for possession of marijuana. The merry pranksters try to keep the “acid tests” going. While Kesey is incarcerated he decides to lower his sentence by calling a huge meeting of heads and hippies in San Francisco in order to tell the youth to stop taking LSD and to have an “acid graduation”.
This novel gives a well rounded perspective from the man who brought LSD into California. Wolfe’s compelling story will open up eyes to the reality of the sixties. This novel is a great story that has a definite experience. It puts you in a position like you are almost experiencing these acid trips. It goes deep inside this powerful mans head and sets the stage for a revolutionary age. This poetic style writing really conveys the true story of Ken Kesey.
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