The Acid Queen
The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
“Shines a light on one of the twentieth century’s most amazing untold life stories. ... An essential read—and an unforgettable trip.” —Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road
“Cahalan details a piece of lost but fascinating history, the story of a woman who embodied an era of freedom, experimentation, and psychedelic adventure. Meticulously reported and beautifully crafted.” —Susan Orlean
The untold story of the woman who played a critical role in bringing psychedelics into the mainstream—until her audacious exploits forced her into the shadows—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire
Rosemary Woodruff Leary has been known only as the wife of Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor-turned-psychedelic high priest, whose jailbreak captivated the counterculture and whose life on the run with Rosemary inflamed the government. But Rosemary was more than a mere accessory. She was a beatnik, a psychonaut, and a true believer who tested the limits of her mind and the expectations for women of her time.
Long overlooked by those who have venerated her husband, Rosemary spent her life on the forefront of the counterculture, working with Leary on his books and speeches, sewing his clothing, and shaping—for better and for worse—the media’s narrative about LSD. Ultimately, Rosemary sacrificed everything for the safety of her fellow psychedelic pioneers and the preservation of her husband’s legacy.
Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives, and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her. Page-turning, revelatory, and utterly compelling, The Acid Queen shines an overdue spotlight on a pioneering psychedelic seeker.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
It’s no secret that history often overlooks the women who contributed to its most pivotal moments—and that includes the counterculture of the ’60s. While Timothy Leary’s public advocacy for the use of psychedelic drugs made him a generational celebrity, little has been written about his wife and partner, Rosemary Woodruff Leary, who was an icon of the times in her own right. Journalist Susannah Cahalan draws on in-depth research for a captivating portrait of Rosemary on her own terms. She wasn’t just an underappreciated caretaker to the LSD-affected hippies at Leary’s Millbrook commune but a rebel, seeker, and adventurer—one as brazen as her male counterparts. We were blown away when we heard about Rosemary personally busting Leary out of prison and its aftermath, which sounds like something out of a movie. Cahalan’s book illuminates a story that has too long been left in the dark.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This vibrant biography from journalist Cahalan, author of The Great Pretender, chronicles the life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary (1935–2002), a prominent figure in the 1960s psychedelic movement and Timothy Leary's wife from 1967 through 1976. She was a high school dropout and two-time divorcée in 1965, when she met Timothy while visiting Millbrook, N.Y., where the former psychologist ran an "acid commune" studying psychedelic drugs. Fleeing an abusive relationship, Rosemary joined the Millbrook community and struck up a romance with Timothy, whose tendency to view women as free domestic laborers and sex objects put a strain on their relationship. Delving into Rosemary's many run-ins with the law, Cahalan describes how two drug-related deaths on the Southern California commune where Rosemary and Timothy lived in the late '60s resulted in police raids and Timothy's conviction on marijuana possession charges. He served only a fraction of his 20-year sentence, however, because Rosemary arranged for the Weather Underground to break him out in 1970. She spent most of the ensuing decades dodging American law enforcement by traveling throughout South America and the Caribbean until her outstanding warrants were expunged in the 1990s. Cahalan uses Rosemary's stranger than fiction story to offer a vivid portrait of how flower power cracked up in the '70s. It's an electric account of a remarkable life and the end of an era.
