The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

another sates that the environment in which the subject is in affects their characteristics far more than any deep-seated traits. This question, as well as many others, are topics that are brought to exhibition in Tom Wolfe’s book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Set in the late 1960’s, Wolfe tells the true story Ken Kesey and his band of followers, the Merry Pranksters, who brought the psychedelic drug movement to the forefront of American culture.

Analytical Review Sheet for The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe Due date: Any time up to and including Friday, May 5, at 12 noon Student Name_____________________________________________________ What is the background of the author? What are his qualifications to write this book? The author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe, was born on March 2, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia, where Wolfe would grow up to be an all-star student and athlete at St. Christopher’s Episcopal

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Takin' it to the Streets as Drug-influenced Literature Art influenced by drugs faces a unique challenge from the mainstream: prove its legitimacy despite its "tainted" origins. The established judges of culture tend to look down upon drug-related art and artists, as though it is the drug and not the artist that is doing the creating. This conflict, less intense but still with us today, has its foundations in the 1960s. As the Beatnik, Hippie, and psychedelic

of the Night and Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test may seem very similar. They are both centered on a major author of the 1960s and his experiencing of historical events of the time, while set in the style of New Journalism. When examined closer, though, it becomes apparent that these novels represent two very different sides of New Journalism – Armies of the Night an autobiography with personal and political motivations, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a sociological piece which tries

time period were for equality, peace, and love, the counterculture was focused more on psychedelics and sex. The counterculture wanted to become noticed to share their knowledge with others. Ken Kesey, the main character from the novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, was the starter of the counterculture. Readers can infer that the dress, popular music, and drugs and thus shaped the 1960s American society, and future societies to come.

1) Title of Book: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test 2) Author: Tom Wolfe 3) The grounds on which Thomas Wolfe created this documentation of the Merry Pranksters is that he attempts to re-create both the mental and physical atmosphere of their adventure and exploration across America. 4) Specific evidence in supporting the aforementioned thesis can be found in the “Author’s Note” section of the book but also in the writing style used to develop this masterpiece. Writing in a basic journal style, Wolfe

for doing that, but they were group of young adults who did pranks with LSD. For instance, they mixed LSD in a bowl of Kool-Aid in their parties to get their guests high and this was known as Electric Kool-Aid Test. “In the 1960s, heroes of the counterculture -- Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, the Beatles and the Grateful Dead -- embraced the practice of dropping acid, viewing it as a great way to party and as the path to a higher consciousness” (Ross). At the same time, in the sixties

forming cults based on the taking of psychedelic drugs, most important of which was LSD. Kesey’s acid tests quickly became the counterculture style, Wolfe details the strobe lighting, dayglow face paint and bizarre commentary that allowed those involved to ‘freak freely’. It was these acid tests that were key in forming the counterculture. Students in California quickly took to copying Kesey’s acid tests and eventually became popularized as more and more student were trying LSD after hearing about

Straying away from the mainstream can be difficult unless there is a group of people with a common interest that brings them together. The 1960s was a time of not only prominent mainstream culture but also counterculture. The mainstream culture was notably defined by four different concepts that connected white middle and upper class Americans: Patriotism, believing in the institution of marriage, the American dream, and the idea that conformity kept society ordered. In contrast, the counterculture

“Have you ‘turned on’? Are You Experienced? Have you passed the Acid Test?” (Stephenson 41). All three of these questions ultimately asking the same question during the American counterculture movement: Have you dropped acid? The counterculture movement was a time of new ideas, self-expression, and change. Traditional values of America were questioned and the norm was not the norm anymore. Women began to challenge the role of traditional housewife with some women and men dropping out of society all