The Dead book: A social history of the Haight-Ashbury experience

by Hank Harrison

The Dead Trilogy is the longest longitudinal study of an American band ever conducted. Harrison is the Jane Goodall of Rock and Roll. I recommend it for all my classes Tom McNerney, Dept. of Sociology, San Jose State Univ. ( back cover). Hank Harrison is a man who saw that a job had to be done and that he had the specific qualifications to do it. As one of the founders of the Haight-Ashbury community he was the first manager of the rock group known as the Warlocks, which later became The Grateful Dead. Harrison realized that the drugs-and-rock exploitation in the late 60's was not merely a fad or a catch-all for dirty hippies and dropouts, but a social movement of real importance. Black and white photos through out book.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that was pretty awful. I bought the book when it first came out, back when I was a young dead head. I never got through it back then, now I know why - it's an unstructured, time-leaping weave of musician / stoner / psycho babble that's not particularly coherent. The only possible way to work your way through this book is if you are a dead head, or a dead history buff and you want a glimpse into beat consciousness once or twice removed from the merry pranksters that includes very brief and furtive encounters with actual narrative or - even more rare - factual accounts of the history of the Dead and the California scene in the 60's.

[Jozef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of nice little stories from the time but doesn't really give a social history of the Grateful Dead which would be fine if that's what it didn't promise.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is neat because it is a fairly early look at the Grateful Dead from a social history perspective. It is very intimate. However, the writing style is convoluted and hard to follow. Hard-core Grateful Dead fans will find a lot of interesting tidbits, but I'm afraid others will likely be turned off. If you aren't a hardcore fan or buff, look elsewhere!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hank Harrison was one of the many friends who partied, and basically communed with the early Grateful Dead. This book gives many details about what went on in that strange time.
btw, Hank Harrison and his daughter Courtney(Love) are amongst the many hippies on the back cover of the album Aoxomoxoa.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was fun