To most of the readers of Drugs Forum, having grown up in an age where LSD and similar substances have been demonised and generally made illegal, the psychedelics scene fifty years ago may be difficult to imagine. LSD was being used openly by researchers and psychotherapists such as Oscar Janiger and Sidney Cohen, happily supplied by Sandoz, one of the main players in the pharmaceutical world. The respected novelist Aldous Huxley had written 'Doors of Perception' about his experiences with mescaline, and Gordon Wasson's adventures with the mushroom-using shaman Maria Sabina had recently featured in 'Life' magazine no less. And a psychologist named Timothy Leary had not so much as set eyes upon a divine mushroom or tab of acid.
Within a whirlwind decade, everything had changed. The media had launched a full-scale and successful attack on LSD, convincing large sectors of the public that the drug was rather more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Possession of LSD was now a crime in the U.S.A. and, under pressure from that nation's government, most other countries were following suite. The hippie dream, of creating a better society fuelled largely by psychedelic experience, had blossomed briefly, then quickly turned sour. And Tim Leary was talking about starting his own nation, whose inhabitants would be free to ingest any substance leading to spiritual enlightenment.
These are the years that form the crux of 'Storming Heaven' by Jay Stevens, a history of LSD, especially in the U.S.A. The story begins with Albert Hofmann's accidental discovery of the psychic depth-charge in 1943, passes through a wide variety of research in the worlds of psychology and psychiatry, diverting into the mescaline world of Huxley, until we reach the Psilocybin Project at Harvard, fronted by Leary, and the following few years of chaos as use of psychedelics increases rapidly.
In my experience, this is the best account of the subject available. In the spirit of fact being stranger than fiction, the story that unravels is gripping and at times hard to believe. Larger-than-life characters step out of the pages, and it's the kind of book that is hard to put down. Jay Stevens has a gift for telling a story, with a vivid narrative that never becomes tedious. His approach to the LSD story is generally sympathetic, but not uncritical. His handling of Timothye Leary, for example, who some people blame for the criminalisation of LSD, is balanced. While pointing out Leary's excesses and inconsistencies, the author also makes it clear that, while advocating widespread availability of LSD, the acid guru insisted on 'set and setting', stating that if only people had listened to him in this regard, most 'bad trips' could have been avoided.
Particularly excellent also is Jay Stevens's handling of the growing criticisms of use of psychedelics during the early 1960s in academic and psychotherapeutic circles. He demonstrates how much of the criticism was based on the prejudices and assumptions of mainstream scientists. For example, behaviour change through drugs found favour, but only if it was the right kind of behaviour change: producing well-adjusted egos that could be thrown back into materialist consumer society, rather than the mystic and religious oriented personalities that LSD seemed to encourage.
'Storming Heaven' was originally published in 1987, since when I suspect two main 'developments' have taken place within psychedelic history. Firstly, the criminalisation of psychedelic drug analogs, putting a lid on the Pandora's box opened up by Sasha Shulgin in particular. Secondly, fuller recognition of the part played by ethnobotanicals and a corresponding interest in their use by shamans, who are in some ways the true experts in psychedelics.
So, congratulations to Jay Stevens on a brilliantly-written, widely-researched book. It is definitive, and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in psychedelic drugs, particularly for the wider context it provides. It may well change the way you look at these substances. It did it for me.
Wow, that's a really well-written and accurate review! Well-done.
I agree with the "surrealistic" nature of the book when viewed by today's younger generation...it's almost enough to make you think WHAT? That HAPPENED?? For me, anyways, much of the historical facts were distorted in the name of good, wholesome education.
An old friend who read Storming Heaven told me the following:
"I suspect that both Tintin's 'The Blue Lotus' and 'Storming Heaven' are responsible for my drug use (said with tongue firmly in cheek).
I read this book a long time ago....I was probably 15 or 16, maybe older or younger......anyway it was way before I started experimenting with drugs and even before I'd heard of LSD......think I found it in an older sister's room. I remember wondering what this substance could be that affected people in such strange ways........how it created an almost religious fervent amongst its supporters and its detractors.
After reading Storming Heaven it was probably inevitable that I would do my own experimentation with LSD and then many other drugs.....culminating in a heroin addiction that has lasted many years. I can't really remember much detail about the book to be honest. I do remember the excellent description of the day Hofman accidentally discovered the drug......that and Leary's escapades stick out.
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26-08-2008, 19:43
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