The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies and Created the Sixties

by Dennis McNally

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Strange Trip and the publicist of the Grateful Dead, Dennis McNally, a riveting social history of everything that led up to the 1960s counterculture movement.   Few cities represent the countercultural movement of the 1960s more than San Francisco. By that decade, the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood was home to several hundred colorful refugees from the conventional, self-branded “freaks” (dubbed “hippies” by the media) who created the world’s first psychedelic neighborhood, an alchemical chamber for social transformation. Collectively, these freaks rejected a large part of the mythology underlying the traditional American identity, passing over American exceptionalism, consumerism, misogyny, and militarism in favor of creativity, mind-body connection, peace, and love of all things—humans, animals, and nature alike.

Dennis McNally, author of the New York Times bestseller A Long, Strange The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, is a consummate historian of the counterculture. He knows the big picture of the American bohemian tradition going back a century with a depth that is unrivaled. In THE LAST GREAT DREAM, his accessible, often riveting scholarship establishes a multi-disciplinary aesthetic, populated by some of the most colorful and trailblazing characters of these times, from Allen Ginsberg to John Cage to Judith Malina and Julian Beck of the Living Theater, to Lenny Bruce, to Ken Kesey, and scores of lesser-known yet key names. It is a who’s who of the courageous pioneers who changed America forever without spilling a drop of blood. While all of these various strands have been written about before, none of their stories have been pulled together into a larger, expansive, more connected picture in the manner that McNally accomplishes with this definitive book. 

THE LAST GREAT DREAM is a history of everything that led to the 1960s counterculture, when long-simmering resistance to American mainstream values birthed the hippie. It begins with the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance, peaks with the Human Be-in in Golden Gate Park, and ends with the Monterey Pop Festival that introduced Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin to the world. It ties everything together into a gripping narrative with a cast of scores of fascinating people, and tells several micro-histories in the process, including beat poetry, visual arts, underground publishing, electronic / contemporary compositional music, experimental theater, psychedelics, and more. 

Fascinating, far-reaching, and definitive, THE LAST GREAT DREAM is the ultimate guide to a generation-defining countercultural movement, an Underground 101 course for newcomers and aficionados alike.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Music, Art, Collections, Cultural

432 pages, Hardcover

Published May 13, 2025

About the author

Dennis McNally, author, historian, and longtime publicist for the Grateful Dead, was born into the singular world of the postwar military-industrial complex. The son of an Army counterintelligence officer and a determined mother who pursued a college degree even while battling terminal cancer, McNally’s early years were shaped by frequent relocations, both in the U.S. and abroad, and by a growing awareness of American culture and history. After an education that culminated in graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, he broke with academic convention by choosing his dissertation topic early: the life and work of Jack Kerouac. His resulting biography, Desolate Angel, published in 1979, impressed Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, who later invited McNally to write the band’s authorized history.
That invitation led to McNally becoming the Dead’s publicist in 1984 and eventually publishing A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, a definitive chronicle of the band’s cultural impact. His decades-long immersion in the Dead community brought him close to its central figures and events, from backstage encounters to personal friendships, including his marriage to photographer Susana Millman.
After Garcia’s death in 1995 and the eventual disbanding of Grateful Dead Productions in 2004, McNally continued working in the music world, supporting artists and organizations whose work resonated with his values and taste. Today, he remains an active presence in the world of music publicity, especially in the jam band and Americana scenes, while continuing to reflect on the unique intersections of culture, music, and American identity that have defined his life and career.

Reviews

[Brad Porteus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lucked into a pre-release copy of The Last Great Dream and it's not hard to predict that this book will be immediately deemed Dennis McNally’s magnum opus upon its release.

Many, including McNally, have previously written about San Francisco and the seismic change that rocked the city in the late 60s. This time, McNally takes a scholarly approach to unpack the events that precede those tectonic shifts and describes in great detail the forces that came together that initially shook a city, and ultimately the world.

McNally goes deep into the loosely intersecting subcultures of the 1950s and early 1960s of artists, poets, filmmakers, musicians, writers, thespians, students, and more – each of whom tested conformity and social norms as individuals and groups within San Francisco, New York, London, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. McNally illustrates the role that these groups played in the build-up to the cultural revolution at the end of the 1960s while touching on topics of sexuality, drugs, spirituality, civil rights, feminism, and other social constructs which were then still amorphous and were being explored and challenged by the microclimates of counterculture that he details.

McNally’s gift as a historian – a history that he himself contributed to and participated in – is to connect the dots between so many seemingly disparate forces and to offer due credit by naming the many hundreds of individuals for their historical contributions throughout this brimming and seminal tome.

Cultural anthropologists and social scientists are going to have a field day with this book, which is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the conditions of the world that led to the cultural earthquake whose epicenter was Haight-Ashbury circa 1967 with aftershocks felt until this day.

[Patrick]

DNF. Really bummed about this one. I absolutely adored McNally's "A Long Strange Trip," where he chronicled the story of the Grateful Dead in thorough and riveting detail. So when I saw this announced, I was stoked that Mr. McNally was tackling the subject of the early hippie movement.

However, I just couldn't stick it out with this book. The writing style is far more scholarly than his other work I mentioned, and every paragraph is just an absolute blitz of people's names, poetry, fine art and musical movements, and no particular narrative. This is really more of a reference book than a narrative history.

There is definitely a lot of pre-existing familiarity with the art, poetic, literary & musical movements, and especially the people involved assumed of the reader. As someone looking to be introduced to a lot of this information, it was overwhelming - just name after name after name of people all across the country, with little context of who they really were for the less initiated.

So, to my disappointment, I have had to shelve it :(

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dennis McNally's Last Great Dream is a meticulously researched and scholarly depiction of the decades leading up to the "counterculture" Renaissance in the mid-60s. Beginning his exploration of the political and cultural climates in the 1940s and 1950s in San Francisco, New York City, and London, he returns to those cities as they evolve into centers of change in the ensuing decades, year by year.

Owing to his research and loving delving into the intricacies of the individuals involved, the reader may not recognize most of the names mentioned or their contributions. They have either chosen anonymity or been rendered, in the scheme of things, as minor figures. But the surprise is that many of these unrecognizable names are the pinnacles of change that became what was henceforth referred to as "beatnik" "hippie" " freak" and made untold contributions to the alternative reality that took shape during the late 50s and 60s.

This book is not about the Grateful Dead or the San Francisco Sound. It is a history of what preceded it, what enabled that band and that time to come to be. Involving San Francisco, New York, and national politics that influenced that short period of time, which for whatever reason was absent of malice..... the original creative artists whose works are not famous, who are not household names, yet originally introduced the arts of poetry, spoken word, creative dance, improvisational music and dance together, art and light and sound in tandem with computerized collaboration...... and THEIR original inpirations to produce--- is at the crux of this book.

Kudos to McNally for exploring our spiritual ancestors (including David Smith of HAFC who used LSD to successfully alleviate alcoholism and pronounce health care as a human right, and not a privilage.).

It's my hope that this will become a textbook used in educational courses in the future.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the emerging attitudes of post-war America that culminated in the mythical land of late 60s San Francisco, often told but rarely so thoroughly as here. These same lives and events have been covered hundreds of times but not with the universal lens McNally applies. San Francisco is the world hip capital but we also get Bohemian histories of New York City, Los Angeles, and London, chronicling the literary, musical, fashion, artistic, and philosophical currents that grew into mid-century hippiedom and all that followed. It's a great story, though its lessons -- about enlightenment and commerce -- aren't entirely pretty.

The time period between 1945 and 1968 saw almost unimaginable changes in American values but what comes across in this history is the organic way ideas, tastes, and habits spread from one part of the country to the other, through mimeographed zines, printed books, traveling minstrels. Drugs played a big part in that spread too, especially LSD with its tendency to make individuals feel connected to a greater whole, and so did the distribution of music and books through mass media. Still, the evolution, much of it liberating and beneficial, took almost three decades. I'm trying to balance that against today's world, where perceptive change -- viewed through the web -- is constant; real connections to millions of our fellow passengers possible every minute of every day.

Why isn't our world better for it?

[Nelson1457 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I concur with those who bemoan that this book is a list of names, with little context. For example, take this excerpt from Chapter 24: "Folk rock even rescued a song, perhaps a career. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel‘s album Wednesday Morning 3 AM had flopped. But their producer Tom Wilson listened to the advance of his promo men and recut The Sounds of Silence with some of the same session players who backed Dylan. Remixed it was released in September and was number one in December." This was a seminal influence in Folk Rock. Yet it gets less than 60 words, and Simon is forgotten until he discusses The Monterey Pop Festival.

This book could have been released as three volumes, with the effects of the people and events McNally mentions completely discussed and analyzed.

I don't feel this is a History as much as it is a summation of the period.

[Jody Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ARC honest review. I love everything to do with the ‘60’s so I was very excited to receive this for a review. I learned a lot from this book that I did not know or realize. The sixties influenced many things that most people are unaware of. Many major changes took place in that era and I would have liked to have been there to see it and take part in it. I do not read a lot of Nonfiction unless it is about something or someone that I am into. It did take me a few chapters to get use to this author’s writing style but, once I did, I flew through the rest of them. This will be a must read for anyone interested in the Hippie/ Bohemian movement in the arts.

[Ginny W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the 1940’s to the 1960’s the author appeared to have thoroughly researched the somewhat hidden behind the scene events leading up to the Peace and Love era. From the artists and musicians of the 1940’s to the Beatles, Rolling Stones and even Sonny and Cher. This included the happenings from San Francisco to New York and England. I was particularly interested in the 1960’s and the music revolution and the groups coming out of England. I have to admit it wasn’t an easy read but apparently well researched.
Thank you for the Advanced Reading copy and my opinion.

[Luigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Once again it had me wishing I had been around in those heady days (pun intended), for the history, the bands, and the excitement of so many things happening for the first time. Life and the area was a blank canvas, something never to be repeated.
This book does a great job of working through the people, the politics, the drugs, the music and entertainment.
A real good read :)

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there was plenty of interesting information in this book, it feels like there were so many bits that weren't quite enough. There were references to people without any context, only mentioning them in passing, when they could have been flushed out a bit more. (Especially if you knew who these people were.) This might have been too gigantic of a project to tackle.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, all this happened. Events, and people, often like a catalogue of one thing or person after another without a lot of depth, and it will probably be most interesting to those who were around for some, or part of it. Or, anyway, that's how it worked for me.

[ROBERT · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting as a nostalgia trip. also a lot of stuff I never knew