Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (The History of Media and Communication)

Now Synonymous With Sixties Counterculture, Lsd Actually Entered The American Consciousness Via The Mainstream. Time And Life, Messengers Of Lumpen-american Respectability, Trumpeted Its Grand Arrival In A Postwar Landscape Scoured Of Alluring Descriptions Of Drug Use While Outlets Across The Media Landscape Piggybacked On Their Coverage With Stories By Turns Sensationalized And Glowing. Acid Hype Offers The Untold Tale Of Lsd's Wild Journey From Brylcreem And Ivory Soap To Incense And Peppermints. As Stephen Siff Shows, The Early Attention Lavished On The Drug By The News Media Glorified Its Use In Treatments For Mental Illness But Also Its Status As A Mystical--yet Legitimate--gateway To Exploring The Unconscious Mind. Siff's History Takes Readers To The Center Of How Popular Media Hyped Psychedelic Drugs In A Constantly Shifting Legal And Social Environment, Producing An Intricate Relationship Between Drugs And Media Experience That Came To Define Contemporary Pop Culture. It Also Traces How The Breathless Coverage Of Lsd Gave Way To A Textbook Moral Panic, Transforming Yesterday's Refined Seeker Of Truths Into An Acid Casualty Splayed Out Beyond The Fringe Of Polite Society. -- Introduction: Midcentury Media's Trip With Lsd -- Early Restrictions On Drug Speech, 1900-1956 -- Introducing Lsd, 1953-1956 -- Creating A Psychedelic Past, 1954-1960 -- Research At The Intersection Of Media And Medicine, 1957-1962 -- Luce, Leary, And Lsd, 1963-1965 -- Moral Panic And Media Hype, 1966-1968 -- Postscript: Psychedelic Media. Stephen Siff. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life , messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while lesser outlets piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical—yet legitimate—gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society. |Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Midcentury Media's Trip with LSD 1 1. Early Restrictions on Drug Speech, 1900-1956 17 2. Introducing LSD, 1953-1956 42 3. Creating a Psychedelic Past, 1954-1960 68 4. Research at the Intersection of Media and Medicine, 1957-1962 89 5. Luce, Leary, and LSD, 1963-1965 115 6. Moral Panic and Media Hype, 1966-1968 145 Postscript: Psychedelic Media 181 Notes 191 Index 227| "Siff provides two parallel narratives about LSD. The first focuses on the history of LSD, its popularity beginning in the mid-1950s and its fall from grace a decade later; the second concerns the way in which media attention to LSD changed journalistic methods. Recommended."— Choice "The rich content of consumer magazines, especially those published before television became culturally dominant, remains largely unexamined by media historians. Acid Hype illustrates how rewarding study of mass-circulation magazines can be. Who could anticipate Stephen Siff would find that such bedrock Republicans as Henry and Clare Boothe Luce personally embraced hallucinogenic drugs and encouraged their use in the pages of Life and Time?"—Joseph Bernt, Professor Emeritus of Journalism, Ohio University "Stephen Siff. . . is never less than shrewd and readable in his assessment of how various news media differed in method and attitude when covering the psychedelic beat."— Inside Higher Ed | Stephen Siff is assistant professor of journalism at Miami University, Ohio. La 4e de couverture porte : "Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life, messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while outlets across the media landscape piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical--yet legitimate--gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society." "Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life, messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while outlets across the media landscape piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical--yet legitimate--gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society. "-- Provided by publisher "Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life, messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while outlets across the media landscape piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical--yet legitimate--gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society."-- Résumé de l'éditeur "Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life, messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while outlets across the media landscape piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical ... yet legitimate ... gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society." Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. __Time and Life__, messengers of American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while lesser outlets piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. This book offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As the book shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical—yet legitimate—gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. The book's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society. 'Acid Hype' offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical, yet legitimate, gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the centre of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction: Midcentury Media’s Trip with LSD 16 1. Early Restrictions on Drug Speech, 1900–1956 32 2. Introducing LSD, 1953–1956 57 3. Creating a Psychedelic Past, 1954–1960 83 4. Research at the Intersection of Media and Medicine, 1957–1962 104 5. Luce, Leary, and LSD, 1963–1965 130 6. Moral Panic and Media Hype, 1966–1968 160 Postscript: Psychedelic Media 196 Notes 206 Index 242