Artificial Paradises

Book excerpt: This sensational anthology features a rich tapestry of voices exploring the powerful role that mind-altering drugs have played throughout history. It brings together a multiplicity of voices to explore the presence -- both secret and public -- of drugs in the overlapping dialogues of science and religion, pleasure and madness, individualism and social control. Featuring writings by William Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Aldous Huxley, Alice B. Toklas, Charles Baudelaire, Sigmund Freud, and an array of other seekers, Artificial Paradises locates the origins, busts the myths, examines the scientific studies, and embraces the controversy surrounding drugs, offering an honest, if not psychedelic, portrait of the lives and minds of those who have used them.