A new, expanded edition of Psychedelic Trickers: A True Secret History of LSD has just been published.
In the closing years of World War Two, the mind-bending power of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) was discovered at the same time as atomic energy and computerised artificial intelligence. During the post-war years, various ‘tricksters’ sought to use LSD and other psychedelic drugs for changing consciousness: some for fighting the secret Cold War; others for saving humanity from Armageddon; and some just for personal gain or megalomania. This book fully explores the exploits of this colourful, at times sinister, cast of characters on both sides of the ‘divide’ – from Sidney Gottlieb (the ‘CIA’s Poisoner-in-Chief’) to Timothy Leary (the ‘high-priest of LSD’); from the ‘Operation Julie’ police to the British ‘Microdot Gang’.