History
The history of psychoactive use, prohibition, and drug culture from ancient to modern.
Mainstream bestseller covering the history and renaissance of psychedelic research. Follows clinical trials at Johns Hopkins and NYU, interviews researchers, and describes the author's own guided sessions.
Narrative history of the war on drugs from Harry Anslinger to Portugal's decriminalization. Traces how drug policy has been shaped by racism, bureaucratic self-interest, and moral panic.
Chemist whose self-experiment reports in PiHKAL and TiHKAL are the only published human data for a large share of this corpus.
Sandoz chemist who first synthesised LSD and characterised its effects; the origin of the primary-source record for the lysergamides.
Basel pharmaceutical company whose mid-century ergot programme produced the first LSD and psilocybin preparations and the earliest clinical literature on them.
Archaeological investigation of psychoactive sacraments in ancient Greek and early Christian rituals. Examines chemical evidence for ergot-derived compounds in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Biography of the CIA chemist who ran MK-Ultra. Documents the agency's LSD experiments on unwitting subjects, connecting Cold War paranoia to the origins of drug prohibition.
Investigative account of the American opioid epidemic, tracing the pipeline from Purdue Pharma's marketing of OxyContin through rural addiction and death. Documents corporate malfeasance and regulatory failure.
Investigative journalism tracing how OxyContin marketing and black tar heroin distribution converged to create the American opioid crisis. Documents the roles of pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and drug trafficking networks.
Documentary about Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the underground chemists who produced millions of doses of LSD in the 1960s. Documents the transition from legal to illegal manufacture.
National Geographic documentary covering LSD's history, pharmacology, and ongoing research. Includes interviews with researchers and footage from clinical settings.
Comprehensive reference covering over 800 psychoactive plants. For each, provides botanical identification, chemistry, traditional use, preparation methods, and legal status.
Global history of psychoactive commerce — how caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, opium, cannabis, and coca became entangled with colonialism, capitalism, and state power.
Sweeping history of drug use and drug control from antiquity through the 20th century. Argues that prohibition has consistently failed on its own terms.
Investigative history of cocaine covering its medical origins, the crack epidemic, the Colombia trade, and the CIA's involvement. Draws on extensive interviews and FOIA documents.
Narrative of Richard Evans Schultes' ethnobotanical fieldwork in the Amazon, told through the journeys of his student. Documents indigenous psychoactive plant knowledge and its systematic erosion.
McKenna's speculative history of psychoactive plant use in human evolution. The 'stoned ape' hypothesis remains unproven but the ethnobotanical survey is extensive.
Investigative history covering LSD from CIA experiments through the counterculture to its prohibition. Draws on FOIA documents, interviews, and archival research.
Albert Hofmann's first-person account of discovering LSD-25, its early clinical applications, and his reflections on its cultural trajectory. A primary historical document from the chemist who synthesized it.
Ethnobotanical survey of psychoactive plant use across cultures, by the father of ethnobotany and the discoverer of LSD. Richly illustrated with botanical and anthropological detail.
New Journalism account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters' cross-country LSD odyssey. A primary document of 1960s psychedelic culture.
Huxley's account of his first mescaline experience. Published before LSD entered the cultural mainstream, it framed psychedelics as tools for philosophical inquiry rather than recreation.
One of the earliest American accounts of cannabis use, written in the style of De Quincey. Documents both euphoria and paranoia with unusual candor for its era.
One of the earliest published accounts of opioid dependence and withdrawal. De Quincey's memoir shaped how Western culture understood addiction for over a century.
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