Heads

A Biography of Psychedelic America

By: Jesse Jarnow

Narrated by: Jesse Jarnow

Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America uncovers a hidden history of the biggest psychedelic distribution and belief system the world has ever known. Through a collection of fast-paced interlocking narratives, it animates the tale of an alternate America and its wide-eyed citizens: black market chemists, the LSD-slinging graffiti writers of Central Park, the Grateful Dead-loving AI scientists of Stanford, utopian Whole Earth homesteaders, government-wanted Anonymous hackers, rogue explorers, East Village bluegrass pickers, spiritual seekers, Internet pioneers, entrepreneurs, pranksters, pioneering DJs, and a nation of Deadheads.

Drawing on extensive new firsthand accounts from many never-before-interviewed subjects and a wealth of deep archival research, music writer and WFMU DJ Jesse Jarnow takes readers on a panoramic tour of a comic-book-colored American landscape. And with psychedelic research moving into the mainstream for the first time in decades, Heads also recounts the story of the quiet entheogenic revolution that for years has been brewing resiliently in the Dead's Technicolor shadow.

Featuring over four dozen images, Heads weaves one of the 20th and 21st centuries' most misunderstood subcultures into the fabric of the nation's history.

Critic reviews

"Music, history, and psychopharmacology blend together in Heads.... Jarnow describes in colorful and scrupulously researched detail how psychedelic music fused with actual psychedelics to create a ceaselessly regenerating 'hip economy' that persists to this day.... It's a head trip and then some."--Rolling Stone, "10 Best Music Books of 2016"

"A brilliant study of the transformative impact of LSD on a half-century of US art, music, movies, spirituality, and technology."--Uncut, "Book of the Year," December 2016

"If you are a fan of books dealing with the history of salt, timber, or something more exotic like sex, you will delight in Heads, a book about psychedelics.... [A] well-documented spiraling history of how these drugs transformed our present culture."—Bookcase TV

undefined—Addicted to Noise, "Best of 2016: Top 5 Books"

"[Jarnow] is our generation's foremost Grateful Dead chronicler, and something of a cultural ambassador to the punks and indie kids who might not otherwise pay the band any mind."--Spin

"Engaging and deeply researched... Generously illustrated with archival photos and artifacts."
—Ugly Things

No turn left…

A wonderfully detailed from the ground up historical account of a ton of really cool shit.
Well done Mr. Jarnow
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A Head for the Heads!

After being sucked in by everything he does on the Grateful Deadcast I had to immediately download the book as soon as it came out. Everything Jesse writes about, and especially when he talks about it, grabs and enthralls my excitement for being a Head, for what it meant to be a Head and for what it is going to be in to be a Head in the future. I don’t want to finish this book! I’m about halfway through and I’m so entralled!!!

The Grateful Deadheads are still alive and great!

This is a rich and encompesing history of a time I observed from afar being born in 1951 but was never a real part of but remember well. I had many friends who were a part of it all. I knew them well and loved them all. They were never in it for the money and violence was nearly unheard of. It was a exploration of the mind in search of itself. Change your thinking to change the world. This is also a very amusing and very funny account of the psychodilect explosion in America and the world.

Great Heady Read!

If you are a fan of psychedelics, counter culture, The Grateful Dead, Dead & Co, Dark Star Orchestra, Wolf Bros, Phish and the like, this audiobook is for you! Mr. Jarnow dives deep into the life and culture surrounding these entities and their humble beginnings. Enjoy! :-)

To much Grateful Dead and phish bullshit.

The Grateful Dead and phish weren’t the only people bands doing acid. Way too much focus on that sub culture.