Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost - A Memoir of Hampshire College in the Twilight of the 80's

Richard Rushfield takes us on an unforgettable and hilarious trip through higher alternative education in the eighties. Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost is a strange and salacious memoir about life at the ultimate New England hippie college at the height of Reaganomics. Opening its doors in 1970, Hampshire College was an experiment in progressive education that went hilariously awry. Self- proclaimed nerd Richard Rushfield enrolled with the freshman class of 1986, hoping to shed his wholesome California upbringing in this liberal hideout, where overachievement and preppy clothes were banned. By turns hilarious, ironic, and steeped in history, Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost takes readers to a campus populated by Deadheads, club kids, poets, and insomniac filmmakers, at a time when America saw the rise of punk and grunge alongside neoconservatism, earnest calls for political correctness, and Take Back the Night vigils. Imagine Lord of the Flies set on a college campus and you have Richard Rushfield's alma mater experience. A strange and salacious memoir of life at the ultimate hippie college during the height of ReaganomicsOpening its doors in 1970, Hampshire College was once known as a land of eternal partying, where countercultures thrived and jocks were nowhere to be found. Self- proclaimed nerd Richard Rushfield knew this progressive Massachusetts campus was the place for him, offering a chance to shed his squeaky-clean California upbringing. He was part of the freshman class of 1986, hiding out from Reagan-era excess in a liberal haven where overachievement and preppy clothes were banned.By turns hilarious, ironic, and steeped in history, Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost takes readers to a campus populated by Deadheads, club kids, poets, and insomniac filmmakers, at a time when America saw the rise of punk and grunge alongside neo-conservatism, earnest calls for political correctness, and Take Back the Night vigils. Shunned by all of the school's reigning subcultures, Rushfield joins the most hated clique on campus, the Supreme Dicks, navigates a dating scene where to express interest in anything is social suicide, and mostly avoids class where hippie professors blather on about post-structuralism. Culminating in a mad clash of slackers and yuppies, Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost captures a watershed moment for American youth in one hilarious and unforgettable trip. Documents the author's experiences at a progressive Massachusetts college, shedding his conservative California upbringing in favor of a hippie culture shaped by Grateful Dead music, insomniac filmmaking, and political correctness