FLIGHT OF IBIS

An inside glimpse at counterculture life in the 1970s.

With long hair, bell bottoms and loads of suspicion about “the man,” Peter Boas was the quintessential ’70s hippie. An established marijuana dealer, he paid his way through college with money made from selling drugs to classmates and friends. Although lots of students dabbled, Boas prided himself on maintaining a big enough business to finance his lifestyle of school, women and parties. While the memoir sometimes carries the tone of a rambling stoner, Boas includes many inside facts about marijuana growing, processing and selling, explaining that the plant is similar to fruit and is perishable if exposed to prolonged air and light. According to the author, the drug’s potency connects directly to its freshness. Push these tidbits aside, however, and a scenario of heartbreak and fear is revealed. Boas’ parents separated when he was five years old, and his mother spirited he and his brother off to Santa Barbara, Calif., but she became ill suddenly, leaving the brothers abandoned. They were deposited in a reform school, the only place designated for wards of the state. There, Boas witnessed a young boy being sodomized and the hardened demeanor of the older boys. Only after weeks of toiling in an orange orchard and giving up hope are they rescued by their father, who tells them that their mother has died. Such a brutal Dickensian experience provides clues as to why Boas continues in his illegal “tea trade” long after he graduates college. It’s as if he doesn’t trust any establishment and feels safer carving out a riskier existence even after being robbed and beaten, pulled over by police and having his car searched. He’s finally busted and elects to jump bond and raise money by transporting Jamaican herb on the Ibis II, the sloop he has invested in. It’s a harrowing, loosely written adventure of close calls and crazy chances, but in the end, it’s clear the author enjoyed it.

The story of a life under the radar that will enthrall memoir fans and ’70s history buffs.