The Hippies

Introduction; The Ethics of Dope; The Ethics of Sex; The Ethics of Rock; The Ethics of Community; The Ethics of Cultural Opposition; Legacy

Among the most significant subcultures in modern U.S. history, the hippies had a far-reaching impact. Their influence essentially defined the 1960s--hippie antifashion, divergent music, dropout politics and "make love not war" philosophy extended to virtually every corner of the world and remains influential. The political and cultural institutions that the hippies challenged, or abandoned, mainly prevailed. Yet the nonviolent, egalitarian hippie principles led an era of civic protest that brought an end to the Vietnam War. Their enduring impact was the creation of a 1960s frame of reference among millions of baby boomers, whose attitudes and aspirations continue to reflect the hip ethos of their youth.

“Turn on, tune in, drop out,” Timothy Leary advised young people in the 1960s. And many did, creating a counterculture built on drugs, rock music, sexual liberation, and communal living. The hippies preached free love, promoted flower power, and cautioned against trusting anyone over thirty. Eschewing money, materialism, and politics, they repudiated the mainstream values of the times. Along the way, these counterculturists created a lasting legacy and inspired long-lasting social changes. The Hippies and American Values uses an innovative approach to exploring the tenets of the counterculture movement. Rather than relying on interviews conducted years after the fact, Timothy Miller uses “underground” newspapers published at the time to provide a full and in-depth exploration. This reliance on primary sources brings an immediacy and vibrancy rarely seen in other studies of the period. Miller focuses primarily on the cultural revolutionaries rather than on the political radicals of the New Left. It examines the hippies’ ethics of dope, sex, rock, community, and cultural opposition and surveys their effects on current American values. Filled with illustrations from alternative publications, along with posters, cartoons, and photographs, The Hippies and American Values provides a graphic look at America in the 1960s. This second edition features a new introduction and a thoroughly updated, well-documented text. Highly readable and engaging, this volume brings deep insight to the counterculture movement and the ways it changed America. The first edition became a widely used course-adoption favorite, and scholars and students of the 1960s will welcome the second edition of this thought-provoking book.

Peaceniks. Stoners. Tree huggers. Freaks. For many, the hippies of the 1960s and early 1970s were immoral, drug-crazed kids too spoiled to work and too selfish to embrace the American way of life. But who were these longhaired dissenters bent on peace, love and equality? What did they believe? What did they want? Are their values still relevant today? Bringing together the personal accounts and perspectives of 54 "old hippies," this book illustrates how their lives and outlooks have changed over the past five decades. Their collective narrative invites readers to reach their own conclusions about the often misunderstood movement of ordinary young people who faced an era of escalating war, civil turmoil and political assassinations with faith in humanity and a belief in the power of ideas.

Peaceniks. Stoners. Tree huggers. Freaks. For many, the hippies of the 1960s and early 1970s were immoral, drug-crazed kids too spoiled to work and too selfish to embrace the American way of life. But who were these longhaired dissenters bent on peace, love and equality? What did they believe? What did they want? Are their values still relevant today? Bringing together the personal accounts and perspectives of 54 "old hippies," this book illustrates how their lives and outlooks have changed over the past five decades. Their collective narrative invites readers to reach their own conclusions about the often misunderstood movement of ordinary young people who faced an era of escalating war, civil turmoil and political assassinations with faith in humanity and a belief in the power of ideas.

In the mid 60s, Joe from the Bronx and Beth the orphan escape New York City for Canada, hoping to leave their past lives — and American politics —behind them. At a peace march on their way north, their fortunes intertwine with the fate of Dick, a Royal Military College Officer Cadet. Armed with naïveté, optimism and a little weed, the three homestead on Nova Scotia’s North Mountain. Unlike many of the fair-weather hippies of summer, they make it through the first winter with a little help from their hardier neighbours. Steve, a man damaged by the Vietnam War, shatters their peaceful existence in one night of rape and violence. When he disappears, the Mountain folk hope that peace will return to their little world. Birth, marriage, death, divorce, and fresh relationships complicate their lives. But even as they gradually resolve the consequences of their own pasts, they become increasingly aware that Steve may return to destroy all they have achieved.

Part autobiography, part history, part travelogue, this is an account of the author's experiences in that marginal realm, the mythical hippie's heavenly playground, and an investigation of how the hippies of his youth are faring in the modern world.