Counterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House

A distinctive mix of scholarly erudition and gonzo passion mark this history of counterculture. As long as there has been culture, there has been counterculture. At times it moves deep below the surface of things; at other times it’s in plain sight, challenging the status quo; and at still other times it erupts in a fiery burst of creative, or destructive, energy to change the world forever. But until now the countercultural phenomenon has been one of history’s great blind spots. Individual countercultures have been explored, but never before has a book set out to demonstrate the recurring nature of counterculturalism across all times and societies, and to illustrate its dynamic role in the continuous evolution of human values and cultures. Countercultural pundit and cyberguru, Goffman brilliantly sets the record straight in this colourful, anecdotal and wide-ranging study based on ideas developed by the late Timothy Leary with Dan Joy. With a distinctive mix of scholarly erudition and gonzo passion, Goffman and Joy identify the distinguishing characteristics of countercultures, delving into history and myth to establish beyond doubt that, for all their surface differences, countercultures share important underlying principles: individualism, anti-authoritarianism and a belief in the possibility of personal and social transformation.