Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture: A Guide to an American Subculture

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ABC-CLIO, Oct 22, 2009 - Social Science - 164 pages

An insightful introduction to hippie culture and how its revolutionary principles in the 1960s helped shape modern culture.

This title explores how hippies, and 1960s counterculture in general, developed and influenced popular culture in America. Covering the years between 1961 and 1972, this is the first volume focused exclusively on the emergence, growth, and lasting legacy of hippie culture, on everything from clothing, hair styles, and music to attitudes toward sex and drugs, and anti-war, anti-establishment activism.

Hippies includes a chronology, topical chapters on hippie culture, biographies, primary documents, and a glossary. Coverage ranges from an examination of hippie involvement in drug use, politics, sexual behavior, and music, and a contemporary perspective on lasting impact of hippies on modern American life. Readers will encounter famous icons of the era, from Abbie Hoffman to Timothy Leary, while getting a real sense of what life inside the hippie counterculture was like.

  • Includes 13 primary sources, including excerpts from articles, speeches, and original interviews, and Abbie Hoffman's trial interview
  • Presents original photography by acclaimed photographer Robert Altman, providing views of hippies at the height of 1960s culture

About the author (2009)

Micah L. Issitt is a freelance writer living and working in Philadelphia, PA.

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