As long as there has been culture, there has been counterculture. At times it moves deep below the surface of
things, a stealth mode of being all but invisible to the dominant paradigm; at other times it's in plain sight,
challenging the status quo; and at still other times it erupts in a fiery burst of creative-or destructive-energy
to change the world forever.
But until now the countercultural phenomenon has been one of history's great blind spots. Individual countercultures
have been explored, but never before has a book set out to demonstrate the recurring nature of counterculturalism
across all times and societies, and to illustrate its dynamic role in the continuous evolution of human values
and cultures.
Countercultural pundit and cyberguru R. U. Sirius brilliantly sets the record straight in this colorful, anecdotal,
and wide-ranging study based on ideas developed by the late Timothy Leary with Dan Joy. With a distinctive mix
of scholarly erudition and gonzo passion, Sirius and Joy identify the distinguishing characteristics of countercultures,
delving into history and myth to establish beyond doubt that, for all their surface differences, countercultures
share important underlying principles: individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and a belief in the possibility of
personal and social transformation.
Ranging from the Socratic counterculture of ancient Athens and the outsider movements of Judaism, which left indelible
marks on Western culture, to the Taoist, Sufi, and Zen Buddhist countercultures, which were equally influential
in the East, to the famous countercultural moments of the last century-Paris in the twenties,Haight-Ashbury in
the sixties, Tropicalismo, women's liberation, punk rock-to the cutting-edge countercultures of the twenty-first
century, which combine science, art, music, technology, politics, and religion in astonishing (and sometimes disturbing)
new ways, Counterculture Through the Ages is an indispensable guidebook to where we've been...and where we're going.