Barry Miles knows about what he’s written about here; he
lived it. From the Beat culture of the 50s to New Wave and Punk, he was there.
The title is misleading in a way; while it’s about hippie culture, it is also
about the Beats, Black Power activists, the start of Gay Pride, and musicians-
lots and lots about the musicians; people I tend to think of as separate
entities from the peace, love, pot, and granola hippies. Of course not all
hippies were dropping out; many *were* activists; there is no hard line that
says “This is a hippie and this is not”. But it’s more a history of the era in
general than about the entire hippie movement.
I found it very interesting; while I lived through the era I
was just a little too young (and too much of a book nerd) to participate in
much of it. This book illuminated things that I saw from the edge looking in. The
book is visually very appealing; there are very few pages that don’t have
images on them. Photos, album covers, and posters are all part of the imagery.
It’s like a coffee table book, but with smaller dimensions.
The book doesn’t beautify the hippie scene. He writes about
both the good (peace demonstrations, the Diggers, wild fashion, hopes for a
more egalitarian future, Woodstock, activism) and the bad (hard drugs like meth
and heroin, the Hell’s Angels moving in on the scene, Altamont, Manson, Kent
State). It’s a very even handed approach. Now, I think I need to go listen to
some 60s music.
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