Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000

by Martin Torgoff

From the narcotic allure of the bebop and Beat generations to the psychedelic 1960s, Vietnam, the cocaine-fueled disco era, the crack epidemic, and the ecstasy-induced rave culture, illegal drugs have profoundly shaped America's cultural landscape. In Can't Find My Way Home, journalist and filmmaker Martin Torgoff chronicles what a long strange trip it's been as the American Century became the Great Stoned Age.
Weaving together first-person accounts and historical background, Can't Find My Way Home is a narrative vast in scope yet rich in intimate detail. Torgoff tells the stories of those whose lives became synonymous with the drug culture, from Charlie Parker, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and John Belushi to ordinary people who felt their consciousness "expanded" or who plumbed the depths of addiction. He also examines the broader impact of drugs on society and politics, from the war on drugs to the recovery movement, and the continuing debate over drug policy. A vivid work of cultural history that neither demonizes nor romanticizes its subject, Can't Find My Way Home is a provocative and fascinating look at how drugs have entered the American mainstream.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Music, Drugs, Sociology, Pop Culture, American History

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

For more than three decades, Martin Torgoff has been at the forefront of major media trends and cultural currents, documenting and telling the story of America through the evolution of its popular culture. An award-winning journalist, author of prize-winning and best-selling books, documentary filmmaker and Emmy-nominated television writer, director and producer of shows that have been seen by millions, his work has encompassed music, art, film, theater, literature, politics, history, biography, sexuality, sports, sociology, and celebrity culture. As the New Yorker put it, “Martin Torgoff has been writing books and making films about sex, drugs and rock and roll for thirty years.”

Although an expert on the cultural landscape of the baby boom era, Torgoff’s interests range far and wide. His film Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation, produced for VH1, was nominated for Emmys in Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming and Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Writing. In 2004, he published a landmark work about how illicit drugs have shaped American popular culture, Can’t Find My Way Home: America In the Great Stoned Age, 1945 - 2000 (Simon & Schuster), then turned the book into The Drug Years, an award-winning multi-part documentary series in 2006 that became one of the most successful in the history of VH1. This and another series on the sexual revolution called Sex—The Revolution, a co-production of VH1 and Sundance in which Torgoff also appeared as a principal commentator, established him as a recognized television personality and authority on music and American pop culture, after which he was invited to lecture at Brown University and other colleges.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be one of the best history books I've ever read, I never expected it to be such an interesting read. I've never taken drugs and have never had any interest in doing so, but somehow this book made it on to my reading list and I'm so glad it did. This book hasn't been written by a doctor or a scientist, it hasn't been written by somebody who is pro or anti drugs, it has been written by somebody who has lived with drugs, reached rock bottom and made it out to the other side.

This subject is a tricky one to keep balanced, it could so easily fall into a rant about drugs and those who take them or it could end up being a "romance" book about how cool drugs are. Torgoff comes across as being on the fence, some drugs are bad and some are good, we should be given the choice if we want to experiment.

This is written in chronological order, starting with the Jazz musicians of the 40's, moving on to the Beatniks and hippies, then we get the government waking up and many many arrests are made. The media joins in the madness and start doing what they do best, lying and scaremongering. This is the point where we are now and what we know about drugs, that they are bad, gangs will kill you because of them, every single kid in school takes drugs, 100,000's of babies are born each year addicted to some drug or other. Nobody really looks at the facts, guns, cars, booze and cigarettes kill more people a year and aren't illegal. The US government spends 10's of billion dollars a year fighting drugs with zero impact, money that could be spent on rehab, education, creating a safe space for people to partake in some of the safer drugs which could be taxed. This book could easily make you start ranting and raving.

I've learnt a lot of things on this subject, been inspired to read books by other authors and to also listen to music by those who experimented.

Give this fantastic book a go and find out just how much drugs have an impact on how the world is today.

Blog review (with music) is here: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...

[Aria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf p. 119. This starts off alright speaking from the viewpoint of the author as a young man. Then it goes into a history of popular drug use starting w/ beats. Idk how it goes after that b/c I reached a point at which I quit. There's nothing wrong w/ the chosen material, but after the author quits speaking about himself he sees to lose his ability to really relate the material. It's not bad, just not great. Additionally, if you are someone already familiar w/ the goings-on of the beat era, jazz, & the drugs of the period, then there's nothing new in here & therefore kind of boring. At the point I put the book down Hunter S. Thompson had entered & Kesey was giving acid to the Hell's Angels. Again, if you already know how that all plays out, this is just another re-hash.

Partly my boredom was due to above related issues, but partly it was b/c the author focuses heavily on people I just can't stand. Specifically, Ginsburg & Kerouc I am sick to death of hearing about. Get a grip people. The more interesting types to me, Huxley, Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Walter Pahnke, & William S. Burroughs, are in here, but receive little focus. They are the heavy hitters, but the story is decidedly carried out through more grown-up children, like Kesey, Kerouc, & Ginsberg. Not new info., & not people I care to read any more about. (Leary is necessarily included, but I think he falls somewhat into both categories. Ironically, even Thompson was more cautious about the disbursement & use of psychedelics than were the lot aforementioned adult children.) That said, for some readers these louder personalities that really caused a lot of trouble & kind of derailed a lot of better possibilities will be just the thing to interest them....presuming of course they are not already familiar w/ these people.

Finally, boredom aside, the reason I finally decided to forego further reading was encountering a pet-peeve of mine. Earlier in the text the author properly uses the word "anarchy"in association w/ socialists & by way of referencing those associating w/ a specific type of political thought. On p. 119 however, he incorrectly utilizes it in association w/ the Hell's Angels when what he was trying to convey would appropriately have been expressed by the word "chaos." Two very different meanings. Sloppy writing. Insulting to a very old political mind-set that is such a threat to state they've intentionally (& largely successfully) set out to misconstrue it w/ chaos. The fact that author fails to grasp this when he is writing about oppression from "the man," & that which they attack based their perception of it a threat to their "establishment," has got to be one of the greater ironies I have lately come across. This book is kind of full of ironies, if you are perceptive enough to notice them. Sadly, that doesn't add any to the reading experience.

I wanted to say that I would recommend this to those who really know nothing about the eras involved, but given the problems I came across I have to say that, honestly, loads of better books exist that cover the same information. The people mentioned also have no shortage of biographies & self-created content to be consumed, & that's even better. This book really doesn't offer anything not already very well-covered in other material, so no, I'm not going to recommend it.

Post-script: I did jump around in the material offered later on in the book. More of the same, regardless of decade. Nothing new that doesn't already have better source material available.

[Ryan Grim · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little cliched. Treats American drug history like a VH1 Rockumentary.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000 by Martin Torgoff (Simon & Schuster 2004) (306.1) is an outstanding book about drug use in American society. The book is ordered chronologically; each chapter presents discussion about various psychoactive substances as their use became prominent, usually as a function of their time. For instance, when the book opens, jazz and bebop were popular forms of music; the author discusses the use of heroin in the context of jazz. Next, the book takes up the "Beats" and the hippies and explores the rise of psychedelics and marijuana. Cocaine is discussed as a consequence of the 1970's and 1980's, then onto the rise of crack, then finally MDMA (ecstasy). Please forgive this rough outline of the book; the author touches on every other drug I've ever heard of and provides segues (often of many pages) into subjects such as the rise and fall of Haight-Ashbury, the Viet Nam war, and the Manson family. I loved this book, and I've given it one of the highest rating that I've ever assigned on Goodreads. My rating: 8/10, finished 2/12/13. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Nick Huntington-Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on drug use in the postwar United States. I get the sense that the book suffers from the way that Torgoff himself came into the world of drugs in the 60's. The fawning over the heroes of the beatnik and hippie eras can get overwrought to the point of comedy, and the tone shifts so abruptly when talking about any culture that isn't a direct recreation of the 60's (complete with reappearances from Ginsberg, Leary, etc.) that I found myself unwilling to trust the book's take. Maybe I'm being too harsh, it's not like I'm an expert here, but the book pushed a lot of my skeptical buttons.

Read the first half for an affectionate and thorough memoir of the turned-on age, skim the second half for a boomer's take on how the kids fucked it all up.

[Diane Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is less a straight up history of drug use in America than an experiential history, examining the personal experiences of those that got caught up in various drug cultures throughout the latter 20th century. The author still touches on the societal reasons that these drug cultures emerged and looks at the drug cultures at large, so it doesn't feel like an anthology of drug stories. That said, I found myself eager to return to these individuals to find out what happened to them as their stories progressed. I also enjoyed the author's extensive examination of anti-drug legislation over the years and why the legislation is just not working.

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a few false starts that span a decade, I managed to finish this.

Very excellent essays on the history of a few major drug scenes in America history, but it’s not complete. What historical account is? I would like to see a revised edition that spans further into the recent past, perhaps up to 2015.

[Christine Neaverth Michelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before, during and after my years of experience on the subject in ways that intrigued and frightened. This book is had me looking up words on nearly every page. I had to have my phone right next to me to understand just how deep the author’s vocabulary goes. I was fascinated from the beginning to end.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books tracks the use of drugs in post-war America by interweaving music, culture and tales of drug-users, both famous and common. It does not glorify nor condemn drug use, rather it gives a balanced and captivating look at how drugs have shaped American culture for both good or bad.

Anyone interested in the counter-culture movements of the past century will find this book a very enjoyable read.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may become my bible. Torgoff explores history of the drug culture in america starting with the jazz musicians and beat poets. it is excellent! looks at how art/culture/drugs are connected, there are first hand accounts of people who were a part of it - johnny parker, miles davis, allan gisburg, kerouac, timothy leary, etc. i am only on page 100 but am loving it, making connections to so many ideas, and while I read I'm making a list of books and music I want to check out.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps if the reader has background knowledge on all the topics the author discusses, this book would be a good read. However, coming at it with virtually no knowledge of drugs and limited knowledge of the major events of the time period, I often found myself lost. The author assumes that the reader already has knowledge of the events/people which he writes about (i.e. the Manson murders, Andy Warhol, etc.) and therefore does not explain them.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

quick notes:

-didn't read it back to back. partly due to time constraints and partly because it was very exhaustive and not always interesting.

-good overview of certain cultural movements

-many chapters glorify drugs, but not all. all chapters seek to explain the reason particular drugs were embraced at a particular time.

Enjoyed reading it as I did.

[Austin]

Pretty okay; florid at times. Hard to tell whether this book was necessary or not. The chapters on Charlie Parker and the pre-Hippie use of drugs were interesting, but once it got into profiling famous hippies, it began to lose something for me. Overall, though, a pretty decent retrospective of the U.S.'s "drug years."

[Michael S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of exactly what is says. interviews all of the principals including many of the pioneers (Hubert Huncke) and of course has a great discourse on the failures of the war on drugs-unless of course you have invested monies in private prisons and other failed policies of previous administrations

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting for anyone who loves music or is interested in American culture, I keep picking it up and putting it down though. I get really into it and then he takes too long to make his point and I get tired of it again. One day I will finish.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS BOOK. I don't know if it is bad that I loved this book as much as I did since it was all about drugs throughout the years and how they affected the music, art, and the youth of any particular decade. But I did. And I will admit it.

[Derek Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonder why the War on Drugs seems to be either not working or bogus from the beginning? How did drugs seep into our culture after WWII and explode in the 60's and 70's? This book has all those answers and took this guy 10 years to write it, but he got to interview all the big players.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool history of drug use in America. Great insight from many of the players in each era (Oliver Stone and Tom Robbins have some classic lines). Of course, a lot of it took place in the Bay Area so it was very interesting from that perspective.

[Rob Schoenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The History of Drug Use in our country from the 40s on. It is amazing how he pin-points actual parties and moments where the tide changed from one drug to another. I think it also has a neat message and definitions for control and beyond control.

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book does not falter on interesting, if you need a history on drug use this book is it. I would only suggest you not read any other books when you read this one, it takes alot of focus. It's a book you only read once put on your shelf and feel good you finished.

[Garrett Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this type of writing greatly to disect and attempt to understand the drug culture is interesting on many differing levels to me. I wouldnt say its the best writing but it does what it is suppossed to do.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out about this book when my hubby and I had been watching a drug show on either the history channel or some other cable channel. I was really interested on getting the history of drugs. I enjoyed the ride! It took me forever to finish, but well worth it.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

learned a lot about Charlie (Bird) Parker, not to mention the usual heads, Alpert, Leary, Kesey, Burroughs and more to come...

[Kelly]

still learning - have learned a lot about Charlie Parker's influence in bringing heroin to Harlem.. also about the coining the words "beat" and "kicks"

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so long I was never able to finish it. However, what I did read was intriguing and enjoyable. I learned a lot about America's counter culture...

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really long, but this guy went through a lot... and did a lot of drugs in the process. Entertaining and fused with my knowledge of social american history of the eras in his book.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin is great, learned how to write books that get made into mini-series for TV and get more readers! last time around he skipped the decade it takes to write the book and went straight to VH1

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great review of the drug usage between 1945-2000.

[Gena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great read. It was easy and interesting. If you like drugs and history pick this book up. It was great to hear first and second hand accounts of how drugs have shaped America.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a super interesting and readable account of the drug culture in the US with regards to the music world. Definitely a worthwhile book if you're into musical history and culture studies.