Psychedelic Refugee
The League for Spiritual Discovery, the 1960s Cultural Revolution, and 23 Years on the Run
by Rosemary Woodruff Leary
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Mar 09 2021 | Archive Date Jan 12 2021
Inner Traditions | Park Street Press
Talking about this book? Use #PsychedelicRefugee #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
• Shares Rosemary’s early experimentation with psychedelics in the 1950s, her development through the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s, and her involvement, at first exciting but then heartbreaking, with Dr. Timothy Leary
• Describes her LSD trips with Leary, their time at the famous Millbrook estate, their experiences as fugitives abroad, including their captivity by the Black Panthers in Algeria, and Rosemary’s years on the run after she and Timothy separated
One of the original female psychedelic pioneers, Rosemary Woodruff Leary (1935-2002) began her psychedelic journey long before her relationship with Dr. Timothy Leary. In the 1950s, she moved to New York City where she became part of the city’s most advanced music, art, and literary circles and expanded her consciousness with psilocybin mushrooms and peyote. In 1964 she met two former Harvard professors who were experimenting with LSD, Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner, who invited her to join them at the Millbrook estate in upstate New York. Once at Millbrook, Rosemary went on to become the wife--and accomplice--of the man Richard Nixon called “the most dangerous man in America.”
In this intimate memoir, Rosemary describes her LSD experiences and insights, her decades as a fugitive hiding both abroad and underground in America, and her encounters with many leaders of the cultural and psychedelic milieu of the 1960s. Compiled from Rosemary’s own letters and autobiographical writings archived among her papers at the New York Public Library, the memoir details Rosemary’s imprisonment for contempt of court, the Millbrook raid by G. Gordon Liddy, the tours with Timothy before his own arrest and imprisonment, and their time in exile following his sensational escape from a California prison. She describes their surreal and frightening captivity by the Black Panther Party in Algeria and their experiences as fugitives in Switzerland. She recounts her adventures and fears as a fugitive on five continents after her separation from Timothy in 1971.
While most accounts of the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s have been told by men, with this memoir we can now experience these events from the perspective of a woman who was at the center of the seismic cultural changes of that time.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781644111802 |
| PRICE | $19.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 352 |
Featured Reviews
Patrick C, Reviewer
The psychedelic era of the sixties seems long ago. For those of us that lived through those tumultuous times it is hard to explain what they were like to those who never knew real freedom or the innocence of breaking new ground. The war in Vietnam, the civil disobedience that was going on, the racial awakening of many peoples in the cities and the reservations. I remember those times. So when this book became available I jumped at the chance to learn about Timothy Leary and the founders of the new consciousness movements. Drugs were and are a mainstay of the health of most people. The fact that some drugs were considered not worthy of study because they dont fit into the political views of the mainstream is still going on today. All that said I was unable to put this book down. From Algeria to California the story and the characters tell a story that was true then and still is today. This book tells Rosemary's story , A story that needs to be told because it contains the truths and the fallacies of politics and laws and drugs. If you lived then , much of this will sound familiar. The raids , the groups trying to find freedom, the strife. If you didnt live then you will find it still interesting but more than that you will learn how all of this impacted a person named Rosemary.
Susan D, Reviewer
An insiders view of politics, government and drugs through the eyes of a woman who lived it.
Rosemary Woodruff Leary was a cultural pioneer of art, music and the New York City Beats and literati in the 1950’s. Her interest in consciousness and psychedelics began before she met Harvard Professor Timothy Leary in 1964. With an invitation to his Millbrook Estate she would became his psychedelic partner and eventually his third wife. There she played a critical role in the setting and shaping of the psychedelic movement and LSD experimentation. Although her contributions were ignored in the public eye, Leary would be quite open about it. Their relationship was plagued by a series of drug arrests and eventual imprisonment of Mr. Leary. Rosemary, with an appeal pending worked tirelessly with radical groups and individuals to plan Leary’s 1970 prison break. This led to Ms. Woodruff’s twenty three year life in hiding throughout the United States and abroad and within these pages Rosemary shares it all. We meet cultural leaders, learn of her insights and psychedelic experiences and her surrender to California authorities.
This is a wonderful read and very recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Park Street Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Sci Fi & Fantasy
Dr. Andrea Revell
Health, Mind & Body, Nonfiction (Adult), Religion & Spirituality
