Counterculture through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House

As long as there has been culture, there has been counterculture. At times it moves deep below the surface of things, a stealth mode of being all but invisible to the dominant paradigm; 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 R. U. Sirius brilliantly sets the record straight in this colorful, 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, Sirius 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.

Ranging from the Socratic counterculture of ancient Athens and the outsider movements of Judaism, which left indelible marks on Western culture, to the Taoist, Sufi, and Zen Buddhist countercultures, which were equally influential in the East, to the famous countercultural moments of the last century–Paris in the twenties, Haight-Ashbury in the sixties, Tropicalismo, women’s liberation, punk rock–to the cutting-edge countercultures of the twenty-first century, which combine science, art, music, technology, politics, and religion in astonishing (and sometimes disturbing) new ways, Counterculture Through the Ages is an indispensable guidebook to where we’ve been . . . and where we’re going.

From the Hardcover edition.

Looking at thirteen distinct history-altering eras, a cultural pundit explores the diverse ways in which freethinking rebels have shaped the philosophy, politics, art, spirituality, and technology of their times and assesses the distinguishing characteristics of a counterculture, including such principles as individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and the potential for personal and social change. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

As long as there has been culture, there has been counterculture. At times it moves deep below the surface of things, a stealth mode of being all but invisible to the dominant paradigm; at other timesit'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.

Butuntil 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 ofcounterculturalism across all times and societies, and to illustrate its dynamic role in the continuous evolution of human values and cultures.

Countercultural pundit and cyberguru R. U. Siriusbrilliantly sets the record straight in this colorful, 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, Sirius 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 underlyingprinciples: individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and a belief in the possibility of personal and social transformation.

Ranging from the Socratic counterculture of ancient Athens and the outsidermovements of Judaism, which left indelible marks on Western culture, to the Taoist, Sufi, and Zen Buddhist countercultures, which were equally influential in the East, to the famous countercultural moments of the lastcentury-Paris in the twenties, Haight-Ashbury in the sixties, Tropicalismo, women's liberation, punk rock-to the cutting-edge countercultures of the twenty-first century, which combinescience, art, music, technology, politics, and religion in astonishing (and sometimes disturbing) new ways, Counterculture Through the Ages is an indispensable guidebook to where we've been . .. and where we're going.

From the Hardcover edition.

Abraham and Prometheus : mythic counterculture rebels — A different type of human excellence : defining counterculture — Politically incorrect : Socrates and the Socratic counterculture — Leap into the boundless : Taoism — The hand that stopped the mind : the Zen counterculture — Love and evolution : the occult counterculture of the Sufis — Remaking love : the troubadours and the heretic spirit of Provence — Cultural and political revolution : the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — To each his own god : the American Transcendentalists — Brilliant storms of laughter : Bohemian Paris, 1900-1940 — Rebels without a cause : the 1950s — When you change with every new day : the youth counterculture, 1960-1967 — Wild in the streets : the youth counterculture, 1968-1972 — That which does not kill me makes me hipper : the hedonist/nihilist countercultures of the 1970s — Global.digital.doomed? : counterculture leans into the future.