LSD

Journalist Stephen Kinzer reveals how the CIA worked in the 1950s and early '60s to develop mind control drugs and deadly toxins that could be used against enemies. Originally broadcast Sept. 9, 2019.

Dass, who died Dec. 22, was a practitioner of Eastern-inspired philosophy who became interested in the religious potential of LSD in the '60s and '70s. Originally broadcast in 1990.

After Jerry Garcia formed the Grateful Dead in the mid '60s, Hunter wrote most of the lyrics for Garcia's songs, including "Truckin'" and "Uncle John's Band." Hunter spoke to Fresh Air in 1988.

Stephen Kinzer's new book 'Poisoner in Chief' is about the CIA's secret experiments with LSD in the 50s and 60s in search of a drug that could be weaponized to control the minds of enemies. It's also about the man who who led it.

Writer Ken Kesey died Saturday 11/10/01 at the age of 66. Kesey was a leading figure of 60s counterculture. As the organizer of the Merry Pranksters, Kesey did as much as anyone to popularize the use of LSD and other hallucinogens. Kesey also wrote two of the most popular books of the era, Sometimes a Great Notion and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He also the author of Demon Box, Caverns and other books.

Novelist Tom Robbins. His latest book "Skinny Legs and All," (Bantam Books) involves a young Virginia artist, Ellen Cherry, who moves to New York to pursue an art career and ends up a waitress at Isaac & Ishmael's, a restaurant owned by an Arab and a Jew which sits across the street from the United Nations. Other characters of note: Salome, the teenage belly dancer, and some magical objects: a conch, a stick, a sock, a can o'beans, and a spoon.

Writer Ken Kesey. Kesey was a leading figure of the 60's counterculture. As the leader of the Merry Pranksters, Kesey did as much as anyone to popularize the use of LSD and other hallucinogens. Kesey also wrote two of the most popular books of the era, "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." In 1986, Kesey wrote "Demon Box," a look back at his life since the 60s. Kesey has a new book, called "Caverns." It's a novel he co-wrote with the 13 members of his University of Oregon fiction class.

Krassner, who died July 21, published and edited the magazine The Realist from 1958 until 1974 and became known as "the father of the underground press." Originally broadcast in 1988.

Krassner publishes the countercultural and satirical magazine The Realist; he founded it in 1958, while he still lived with his parents. He also cofounded the yippies, who sought to combine politics and theater--and participated in the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Krassner now brings his left-leaning politics to the comedy stage.

Writer Jay Stevens has a new book about the creation of LSD in the 1940s, research into its therapeutic and weaponized potential in the 1950s, and its role in the 1960s counterculture--fueled in part by the influence of people like Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and Aldous Huxley.

Robert Stone's novels explore the drug culture of the 1960s and the Vietnam War--both of which he lived through. Often associated with Ken Kesey's LSD-fueled Merry Band of Pranksters, Stone now lives a quiet life in New England.

Robert Stone counts promises and peoples' failure to keep them, what we chose to perceive in others and how that perception can be deceptive, and the difficulty of behaving decently as themes of his novels. He describes himself as a "writer of his times," and his work often addresses topical issues. His latest novel is "Children of Light."