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Agents of chaos : Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the paranoid end of the 1970s

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  • Running Time: 14:14 hrs
    Narrator: Kiff VandenHeuvel
    Publisher:
    Hachette Books, 2023
    Note: This book was purchased with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.
  • Accessibility:
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    Certified Accessible By: National Network for Equitable Library Service
    Running Time: 14:14 hrs
    Narrator: Kiff VandenHeuvel
    Publisher:
    BC Libraries Cooperative, 2024
    Note: This book was produced with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.

Details:

  • Author: Howe, Sean
    Contributor: VandenHeuvel, Kiff
    Edition: Unabridged
    Date:
    Created
    2023
    Summary:

    The life and times of High Times' enigmatic founder Thomas King Forçade, an underground newspaper editor and marijuana kingpin who--between police raids, smuggling runs, and outrageous stunts--battled both the US government and fellow radicals. At the end of the 1960s, the mysterious Tom Forçade suddenly appeared, insinuating himself into the top echelons of countercultural politics and assuming control of the Underground Press Syndicate, a coalition of newspapers across the country. Weathering government surveillance and harassment, he embarked on a landmark court battle to obtain White House press credentials. But his audacious exploits--pieing Congressional panelists, stealing presidential portraits, and picking fights with other activists--led to accusations that he was an agent provocateur. As the era of protest faded and the dark shadows of Watergate spread, Forçade hoped that marijuana could be the path to cultural and economic revolution. Bankrolled by drug-dealing profits, High Times would be the Playboy of pot, dragging a once-taboo subject into the mainstream. The magazine was a travelogue of globe-trotting adventure, a wellspring of news about "the business," and an overnight success. But High Times soon threatened to become nothing more than the "hip capitalism" Forçade had railed against for so long, and he felt his enemies closing in. Assembled from exclusive interviews, archived correspondences, and declassified documents, Agents of Chaos is a tale of attacks on journalism, disinformation campaigns, governmental secrecy, corporatism, and political factionalism. Its triumphs and tragedies mirror the cultural transformations of 1970s America, wrought by forces that continue to clash in the spaces between activism and power.

    Original Publisher: New York, Hachette Books
    Language(s): English
    ISBN: 9781549158971