WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US AGAINST

by Nicholas von Hoffman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1968

The new grass roots movement? The frowzy freak scene at Haight-Ashbury tape recorded in much the same fashion von Hoffman used in The Multiversity (Holt, Rinehart & Winston--1966) to achieve in his words a ""multi-dimensional"" effect. Dimension to some extent promises a kind of analysis which, except for random remarks on this ""first epiphany of the leisure society"" is not fulfilled. But there is a certain extension of what has appeared in the media, and in other books, since these interviews on the scene of the scene are voluminously self-explanatory. Certain figures appear at intervals throughout, the apostolic Papa Al, Candy who bum-tripped, White Rabbit, etc. along with news clips and fuller reports of actual incidents--i.e. the Linda Fitzpatrick death, the grope-in on the Pentagon lawn. The cantonment of the Haight, the acid center of the world, a subculture perhaps, in any Case a community which in Papa Al's words ""takes dope because it's on a perpetual downer"" is a frightening thing--""Oh weird! Oh, Wow."" Oh sad--even though the fringe commentary will not really explain just why this particular segment of a reasonably privileged and loved Love Generation have declared a psychosocial moratorium with the world. Leonard Wolf's Voices (p. 383), very comparable, has the benefit of its illuminating introduction.

Pub Date: May 1, 1968

ISBN: 0929587065

Page Count: -

Publisher: Quadrangle

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION