The Harvard Psychedelic Club

How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America

By: Don Lattin

Narrated by: John Pruden

It is impossible to overstate the cultural significance of the four men described in Don Lattin's The Harvard Psychedelic Club. Huston Smith, tirelessly working to promote cross-cultural religious and spiritual tolerance. Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, inspiring generations with his mantra "be here now". Andrew Weil, undisputed leader of the holistic medicine revolution. And, of course, Timothy Leary, the charismatic, rebellious counterculture icon and LSD guru. Journalist Don Lattin provides the funny, moving inside story of the "Cambridge Quartet", who crossed paths with the infamous Harvard Psilocybin Project in the early '60s and went on to pioneer the mind/body/spirit movement that would popularize yoga, vegetarianism, and Eastern mysticism in the Western world.

©2010 Don Lattin (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"[Don Lattin] has created a stimulating and thoroughly engrossing read." (Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead and Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America)

The four corners of psychedelic research

As a student of psychology and psychedelics, I found Lattin’s historically significant retelling of the origination of psychedelic research to be an eye-opening, very human story. So often people like Ram Dass and Leary are idolized, and the public isn’t given the full story, but here we learn the sweet and salty and sexy sides of novel research. It’s an exciting time to be alive and apart of this ongoing story of discovering being.

Great read.

Really interesting and riveting! This should be a part of every modern American history class.

Ah, Yes, the Good Old Days!

This book was interesting reading for those of us who were too young for being a part of the happenings of the '60s.
Experienced microdot once in high school but don't remember what happened. I believe I went to one of numerous concerts at Madison Square Garden because I remember it taking effect while traveling on a train into NYC. Probably 10th or 11th grade, about mid-seventies.
Though most of my highs were with pot (and lots & lots & lots of it), sometimes it was speed and/or Valium.
Only experimented with everything else about once (sometimes twice), but NEVER heroin (I didn't like needles) nor mushrooms (because, when younger, I thought they were disgustingly gross). Sometimes I didn't even know what I was taking, which was quite normal back then; you're just happy somebody wanted to share with you, and you didn't have to pay for it, so there was absolutely no need to ask questions.
I remember laughing gas (whippets first, then plastic garbage bags using canisters from a guy who delivered tanks for dentists & other medical offices) until the supplier died from nitrous oxide with a mask strapped to his face. It was really a bummer.
Though Albert was mentioned throughout the book, it wasn't until near end that I realized all along it was referring to Abbie (who I believe I once saw at a Pot Parade held the first Saturday of May every year in New York City, which started at Washington Square, and ended with a free concert in Central Park). The whole point was to legalize marijuana. So, I guess it worked.
Ah, yes, the good old days!

A fascinating story!

The book filled in so many details about the 1960s that I was just not aware of. I enjoyed the way the storyline profiled the four different individuals that were so key in the psychedelic movement and who so greatly influenced our culture then and now.

Interesting and Enlightening

I read a lot of “spiritual” books in the 70s. I thought I was onto some thing new. But no, it began in the 60s; and while I only saw the authors as desperate and provocative, this author has brought them all together and integrated them into a rational whole. .

A great overview of the lives that brought the important questions into view.

Though I had a selective idea of all involved in the quest, there was much I didn’t piece together until now. We may not have reached nirvana, the openings that have emerged are profound… and largely (each in their own way) created by these four persons.

Great story

I loved this book. I've followed Ram Dass for years, and was great to hear his and the other 3 guys story.

Really good overview

Good over view. Makes one think of all the wasted time where research should have been done. Glad it is finally being looked upon as medicine.

Tune in and find your inner self

Excellent book and storytelling about the disruptive group of scientists and seekers who shed a light on the power of psychedelics to expand our minds.
It’s also an unbiased recount of the men and their inner struggles that shaped the movement that’s now regaining momentum.

What does it all mean?

Interesting vignettes of 4 very influential people and a movement.

Would've liked it to have been a bit more in depth, either with broader historical accounts or of the science of psychadelics.