Retreat: How the Counterculture invented Wellness

by Matthew Ingram

What have the hippies ever done for us? Matthew Ingram explores the relationship between the summer of love and wellness, medicine, and health.

The counterculture of the Sixties and the Seventies is remembered chiefly for music, fashion, art, feminism, computing, black power, cultural revolt and the New Left. But an until-now unexplored, yet no less important aspect -- both in its core identity and in terms of its ongoing significance and impact -- is its relationship with health.

In this popular and illuminating cultural history of the relationship between health and the counterculture, Matthew Ingram connects the dots between the beats, yoga, meditation, psychedelics, psychoanalysis, Eastern philosophy, sex, and veganism, showing how the hippies still have a lot to teach us about our wellbeing.

536 pages, Paperback

Published July 14, 2020

Reviews

[Books Books Reading]

This is not a good book!
For many reasons, but the most infuriating for me were: the insane amount of LONG quotations (some nearly a page long) weren't indented or otherwise marked at not the author's voice so it was really hard to keep track of who was speaking; lazy bigoted terminology ('Moslem', 'girl' for a grown woman); complete lack of logical flow between topics.

Honestly, it just felt like someone smugly regurgitating everything they knew on a huge topic with no real purpose or direction or insight. I truly don't understand the point of this book. WHY did it get published

There are definitely interesting moments and areas I'd like to research further and I'll be using the bibliography/filmography for that, but otherwise I couldn't recommend this.

[Robert]

This book is a personal journey of collecting careful ideas, of those, still alive to tell the tale of how, historically, the 60's counterculture practised ways of wellness. The author interviews a wide range of people around the world from feminists, eastern gurus, nutritionists, acid heads, psychotherapists and others who are still alive to tell the tale of how the 60's famously worked out for them. The dots are connected by an extensive reading and music playlist that strings the different people together. The author has in writing this book summarised hundreds of books I've wanted to read but never did. As well as adding quite a few new books to my reading list. Although this is not a book of answers, it has inspired me to practice contemplative meditation regularly. ta+

[Maeve]

Sooo well researched oh my!!! This was such a goldmine of very niche but also very interesting info on how spirituality, countercultures and commerce intersect. Super detailed without being too repetitive, which I imagine would be difficult in the discussion of such a specific topic.

[Droydicus Malojan]

'Retreat' is a fascinating and comprehensive study of the development of countercultural ideas, from mysticism and psychedelia into the wellness and alternative health industries. This is a wonderfully written book full of insight and documentary evidence that strings together a host of sources to illuminate the topic. I cant recommend it highly enough