 Cover of the first US Edition | |
| Author | Tom Wolfe |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | LSD, beat generation, hippies |
| Publisher | Farrar Straus Giroux |
Publication date | August 1968[1] |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 978-0-553-38064-4 |
| OCLC | 42827164 |
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a 1968 nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe[2] written in the New Journalism literary style. By 1970, this style began to be referred to as Gonzo Journalism, a term coined for the work of Hunter S. Thompson. The book presents a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and a group of psychedelic enthusiasts, known as the Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the United States in a colorfully-painted school bus they called Furthur.[3] Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of psychedelic drugs (such as LSD) to achieve expansion of their consciousness.[4] The book chronicles the Acid Tests (parties with LSD-laced Kool-Aid) and encounters with notable figures of the time (Hells Angels, Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg), and describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.
- ^ Weingarten, Marc (September 3, 2005). "The genesis of gonzo". The Guardian. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ Wolfe, Tom (1968). The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. New York: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-38064-8.
- ^ Reynolds, Stanley (2014-05-02). "Acid adventures - review of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test: From the archive, 2 May 1969". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ^ "Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters -- a Celebration of Going Further". KQED. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 2020-11-11.