- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd (4 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0283063661
- ISBN-13: 978-0283063664
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 257,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
How did a decade that dawned with the Age of Aquarius end in Altamont and the Manson Family bloodbath? The 1960s were a time of revolution - political, social psychedelic, sexual. But there was another revolution that many historians forget the rise of a powerful current that permeated pop culture and has been a central influence on it ever since. It was a magical revolution - a revival of the occult. Previously rejected and ridiculed beliefs took centre stage, reaching the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, saturating the the hippies and flower power, hitting the big screen with Rosemary's Baby and the bookshelves with Lord of the Rings. The Tarot. I Ching, astrology, Kabbala, yogis, witchcraft, UFOs, Aleister Crowley. Yin Yang and the Tibetan Book of the Dead now became the common currency they are today. But the vibes went bad, the auras darkened. Did that darker undercurrent win out? Gary Lachman here charts this explosion, its rise and fall, and its enduring legacy
About the Author
Gary Lachman, as Gary Valentine, was a founder member of Blondie, and cowrote many of the group's early hits. He is now a writer and literary critic, contributing to among others Mojo, TLS, Literary Review and Gnosis. He has also performed with lggy Pop and the Know, and currently is singer/songwriter/guitarist with Fire Escape. He lives in London.
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First Sentence
In 1960 a book appeared in France with the unusual and striking title Le Matin des Magiciens, The Morning of the Magicians. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
In 1960 a book appeared in France with the unusual and striking title Le Matin des Magiciens, The Morning of the Magicians. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fun trawl through the seamy side of sixties pop culture, its precursors and offshoots - mini biographies and anecdotes galore. A challenge to anyone inclined to idealise sixties utopianism. Like Colin Wilson but without the philosophy or evangelical urgency, and with only bad things to say about the subjects. Useful, perhaps, given the 'cult following' (in the colloquial sense) of some of the figures discussed, which may lead latter-day enquirers to miss their faults.
That said, I did find the whole thing a bit superficial and reflexively snide. Lachman's account tends to divide the world up rather too neatly into good and bad, with practically everyone mentioned in his book falling, by implication, into the latter camp. This apparent lack of sympathy for any of the subjects makes for a somewhat cold and smug narrative. No allowance is granted for the fact that some of these people were pioneers and experimenters in extreme territory, and thus bound to make at least as many mistakes as people who do nothing. Nor does the book discuss the all-too occult games of such representatives of straight culture as the CIA. Okay, picking out only the negative points of sixties mystical radicalism is the stated angle of the book, but it often leaves you wondering what other sides there are to the argument. What was the context? Can a person's life really be dismissed with the literary equivalent of a raised eyebrow? Still, a useful starting point: lots of names dropped and leads to follow up if you want to know more.
Generally very readable - in a magazine-article sort of way - though prone to the occasional baffler like: "According to Nietzsche, one of Hesse's mentors, some men are born posthumously. In Hesse's case this was certainly true, but it is rare for someone to predict just when that will be. Rarer still for it to happen while you're still alive." Wha..? Turn off your mind, indeed.
Format:Paperback
Fast pacing witty writing, this is a refreshingly entertaining book. Loads of information about the 60's as not commonly seen. A heavy dose of correlations to the occult puts some of the historical events in a new interesting perspective... In the end though I failed to understand the book. Lachman writes in a chronological style with lots of name dropping, and keeps me wondering: "what was his point". Possibly the content can be seen as a journalistic inquiry of our humanness and into some of the dynamics behind "ideologies beyond an ideological framework of isms".
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Looking at some of these reviews - particularly the negative ones - might suggest that this author has an axe to grind. Actually, I found it to be a very useful, well-researched guide(by a sceptical author who is actually far more sympathetically orientated than the sensationalist title may suggest)to the various non-rationalist, spiritual and occultist cultural tendencies associated with the psychedelic Sixties. Very good at providing insightful backgrounds on those who, like Timothy Leary, were associated with promoting acid-use; or of the spread of spiritual mysticism via individuals, organisations and sects like the Process. If you want to find out about the origin of the Age of Aquarius, or why Crowley appears on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, for example, no need to plough through texts on astrology and magic; Lachman not only tells you up-front but gives an excellent bibliography to assist you in learning more should you want to. He obviously has been an enthusiast for this stuff for a long time and is genuinely knowlegeable. Factually, I personally only spotted one error for which he could have been forgiven, given the published information available(on Syd Barrett)at the time he was writing.
As far as balance is concerned, naturally the text pursues a particular theme. Doubtless this will appear slanted to readers who expect a holistic view of the period. But you know going into it, that this is not the remit here. He is openly writing from a subjective perspective - but not excessively so and he is meticulously transparent about his sources.
So, for those who don't care about drawing battle-lines, I suggest that this is a very useful addition to a field swamped by journalistic pandering to psychedelic fandom. And I say that as one of those fans. I didn't find it to be some calculated, sensationalist journalistic palliative to all the cliched nostalgia associated with this period (though certain 'positive' reviewers here may be embracing it as such). Lachman doesn't strike me as a cynical, negative revisionist. More of an enthusiast with a hankering for a bit of counter-balance. And a lot of interesting information to offer which you do not readily find elsewhere. Happy trails.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
For Serial Deadheads
Lachman's book is very different in its translated version, which I read in Finnish. It has a cover that differs a lot from the looks it had originally. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2004 by Mikko Sebastian R.
The Empire Strikes Back at the Sixties
The subject is fascinating and needs more attention, but Lachman has an ax to grind. His criticism of the book "The Morning of the Magicians" in reality applies to THIS book. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2004 by Riley Gordinier
An Occult Carnival
This is an entertaining and brilliant work combining glossy journalism with deep-drilling erudition and a stunning gift for memorable phrasemaking. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2002
An edge-of-the-seat trip though the dark side
Turn on your mind, and read Turn Off Your Mind! At last someone has done for the Sixties counterculture what Colin Wilson did for earlier times; namely, to present a dizzyingly... Read more
Published on 19 July 2001
a fascinating helter-skelter revision
Think you know all about the sixties? Think again. This book turns the era upside down and is sure to become the standard text on the occult roots of the sixties counter-culture. Read more
Published on 7 July 2001
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