WOLFE, Tom.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. First edition, first printing, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Wolfe's counterculture classic chronicles the adventures of Ken Kesey and his cohort as they travelled the USA on their bus "Further", spreading the gospel of LSD. It remains "the best account - fictional or non, in print or on film - of the genesis of the '60s hipster subculture" (Shafer).The Pranksters proselytized that LSD was a gateway to higher consciousness, and Wolfe tagged along for the ride, writing three features for the World Journal Tribune in 1967 in which he sketched their progress. Wolfe entirely reworked the stories into the present book, writing in a style described by Joseph Epstein as "normally shotgun baroque, sometimes edging over into machine-gun rococo" (cited by Carmody & Grimes). The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test has been touted as the "essential book" (Fremont-Smith) of the hippie movement and was fundamental in introducing the ideologies and drug use of the Pranksters to the public.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.