Tag: 1960s

Graham Greene – Yours Etc. | Review

Title: Yours Etc.

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 280

Rating: 3*/5

 

Graham Greene - Yours Etc.

Graham Greene – Yours Etc.

 

I’m not really too sure what I expected from this book because it is just a collection of Greene’s letters to the press. I guess I expected to understand what he was talking about a little more. That’s because the letters are pretty much just printed in chronological order without any real context.

Actually, that’s not true. You occasionally get what happened after the letter was published because it wasn’t unusual for someone else to then write in to make a reply. The problem is that it doesn’t really help if you don’t know what they’re talking about in the first place, as is often the case when he starts talking about global politics in the 1950s and 1960s.

Still, I mean this book is billed as Greene’s letters to the press and it’s exactly that, I just didn’t enjoy reading them as much as I thought I would. I’ve been a Graham Greene fan for years now and I’ve read a whole bunch of his books, so I ought to have loved this. Not the case, though. I think it would have been better if it had included footnotes or some other short introductions and information to expand upon what was there in the actual letters.

All in all, you’re not going to enjoy this unless you’re a serious Graham Greene fan, and even then it’s not that great. It might come in useful if you’re looking for citations for an essay or something like that but otherwise, it’s only so so. Read it at your peril and in chunks.

 

Graham Greene

Graham Greene

 

Click here to buy Yours Etc.


Don Lattin – The Harvard Psychedelic Club | Review

Title: The Harvard Psychedelic Club

Author: Don Lattin

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 256

Rating: 4*/5

 

Don Lattin - The Harvard Psychedelic Club

Don Lattin – The Harvard Psychedelic Club

 

Don’t let this book’s appearance fool you. At first glance, it looks more like a textbook than the stunning piece of investigative non-fiction that it is, but it’s eminently readable and a lot of fun to boot.

This book tells the story of four influential peopleTimothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil – and promises to show you how they “killed the fifties and ushered in a new age for America”. It delivers on that promise, and it’s interesting to see how the formation of the Harvard Psychedelic Club rocked the establishment.

Of the four of them, Leary is the most well-known for psychedelia. He’s one of the primary people that helped to popularise the use of LSD in the 1960s, but the others all had their roles to play too. It’s interesting to see how their lives converged and then separated again, and while the majority of the action takes place in the 50s and 60s, it still takes you pretty much right up to the present date.

Because of that, it takes you on a journey through time that allows you to see how the actions of these four fascinating men changed the world – not just for the sixties but for good. And there’s no pretension – Lattin covers it impartially but passionately, and that’s just fine by me. Overall then, it’s the perfect read for people with varied interests.

 

Don Lattin

Don Lattin

 

Click here to buy The Harvard Psychedelic Club.