During the summer of 1967, if you had long hair, were suspicious of the government, and rejected consumerist values, more than likely you were in San Francisco taking part in what is now referred to as “the Summer of Love” – hippies and marijuana took over Haight Street and the Panhandle; great emphasis was placed on sharing and community; and music festivals, poetry readings and religious or meditative practices were the norm for this large group of individuals participating in counterculture activities.
Fast-forward fifty years to 2017. Many San Franciscans are (still) suspicious of the government and meditate daily; marijuana is legal; and the sharing community is now a for-profit industry dominated by companies like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb. Regardless of the Summer of Love’s impact on the city and today’s political and economic woes, San Francisco is still a magical place to live and be part of. To read more about Haight Street, hippies, the Vietnam Peace Movement and the Summer of Love, check out the Staff Picks display.
Suggested titles include:
Season of the Witch by David Talbot
A fascinating read about the Summer of Love and the two decades that followed it
Fall of Amercia: Poems of these States 1965-1971 by Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg’s stunning volume of poetry, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 1973
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller
A tour de force of the mid-twentieth century, a pastiche set of thinking tools for handling “spaceship Earth’s” finite resources
Cannabis Cocktails by Warren Bobrow
Combining cocktails and cannabis, a hot new trend; why not learn how to be a part of it?
Midnight at the Palace by Pam Tent
The tale of how San Francisco’s counterculture drew Pam to the city and her life as a Cockette
The inside story of LSD, rock & roll, free love and high times in the wild West
The Gang That Wouldn’t Write Straight by Marc Weingarten
Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion and the New Journalism Revolution
American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West by Philip Goldberg
Indian spirituality in the Western world
Be sure to “turn on, tune in, drop out” at the 2nd Floor Library; check out the Summer of Love Staff Picks display.
