A Long
Strange Trip:
The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
by Dennis
McNally
Book Information
Hardcover: 704 pages
Publisher: Broadway; 1st edition (August 6, 2002)
Book Description
The complete history of one of the most long-lived and legendary
bands in rock history, written by its official historian and
publicist–a must-have chronicle for all Dead Heads, and for
students of rock and the 1960s’ counterculture.
From 1965 to 1995, the
Grateful Dead flourished as one of the most beloved, unusual, and
accomplished musical entities to ever grace American culture. The
creative synchronicity among Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill
Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan exploded out
of the artistic ferment of the early sixties’ roots and folk
scene, providing the soundtrack for the Dionysian revels of the
counterculture. To those in the know, the Dead was an ongoing tour
de force: a band whose constant commitment to exploring new realms
lay at the center of a thirty-year journey through an ever-shifting
array of musical, cultural, and mental landscapes.
Dennis McNally, the band’s
historian and publicist for more than twenty years, takes readers
back through the Dead’s history in A Long Strange Trip. In a
kaleidoscopic narrative, McNally not only chronicles their
experiences in a fascinatingly detailed fashion, but veers off into
side trips on the band’s intricate stage setup, the magic of the
Grateful Dead concert experience, or metaphysical musings excerpted
from a conversation among band members. He brings to vivid life the
Dead’s early days in late-sixties San Francisco–an era of
astounding creativity and change that reverberates to this day. Here
we see the group at its most raw and powerful, playing as the house
band at Ken Kesey’s acid tests, mingling with such legendary
psychonauts as Neal Cassady and Owsley “Bear” Stanley, and
performing the alchemical experiments, both live and in the studio,
that produced some of their most searing and evocative music. But
McNally carries the Dead’s saga through the seventies and into the
more recent years of constant touring and incessant musical
exploration, which have cemented a unique bond between performers
and audience, and created the business enterprise that is much more
a family than a corporation.
Written with the same zeal
and spirit that the Grateful Dead brought to its music for more than
thirty years, the book takes readers on a personal tour through the
band’s inner circle, highlighting its frenetic and very human
faces. A Long Strange Trip is not only a wide-ranging cultural
history, it is a definitive musical biography.
Inside Flap Copy
The complete history of one of the most long-lived and legendary
bands in rock history, written by its official historian and
publicist?a must-have chronicle for all Dead Heads, and for students
of rock and the 1960s? counterculture.
From 1965 to 1995, the
Grateful Dead flourished as one of the most beloved, unusual, and
accomplished musical entities to ever grace American culture. The
creative synchronicity among Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill
Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Ron ?Pigpen? McKernan exploded out of
the artistic ferment of the early sixties? roots and folk scene,
providing the soundtrack for the Dionysian revels of the
counterculture. To those in the know, the Dead was an ongoing tour
de force: a band whose constant commitment to exploring new realms
lay at the center of a thirty-year journey through an ever-shifting
array of musical, cultural, and mental landscapes.
Dennis McNally, the band?s
historian and publicist for more than twenty years, takes readers
back through the Dead?s history in A Long Strange Trip. In a
kaleidoscopic narrative, McNally not only chronicles their
experiences in a fascinatingly detailed fashion, but veers off into
side trips on the band?s intricate stage setup, the magic of the
Grateful Dead concert experience, or metaphysical musings excerpted
from a conversation among band members. He brings to vivid life the
Dead?s early days in late-sixties San Francisco?an era of astounding
creativity and change that reverberates to this day. Here we see the
group at its most raw and powerful, playing as the house band at Ken
Kesey?s acid tests, mingling with such legendary psychonauts as Neal
Cassady and Owsley ?Bear? Stanley, and performing the alchemical
experiments, both live and in the studio, that produced some of
their most searing and evocative music. But McNally carries the
Dead?s saga through the seventies and into the more recent years of
constant touring and incessant musical exploration, which have
cemented a unique bond between performers and audience, and created
the business enterprise that is much more a family than a
corporation.
Written with the same zeal
and spirit that the Grateful Dead brought to its music for more than
thirty years, the book takes readers on a personal tour through the
band?s inner circle, highlighting its frenetic and very human faces.
A Long Strange Trip is not only a wide-ranging cultural history, it
is a definitive musical biography.
About the Author
DENNIS MCNALLY graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New
York, and received a Ph.D. in American history from the University
of Massachusetts. After being selected as the Grateful Dead’s
official historian in 1980, he assumed the band’s publicity duties
in 1984 and has been running that post ever since. He is the author
of one previous book, Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat
Generation, and America. He lives with his wife in San Francisco.
Order:
A
Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
Praise
A Long Strange Trip:The History of the Grateful Dead
by Dennis McNally
Here are what others have to say.
The Washington Post's review
of A Long Strange Trip: A History of the Grateful Dead. ... and from
the San
Francisco Chronicle.
“If you want to know
what happened, why it happened, how it happened, and what it was
like in the Grateful Dead, A Long Strange Trip is for you. No other
book on us comes close to it.” –Bob Weir
“Was it important to
history? I’m not sure. Was it important to life? I know it was. A
great read for those needing to know what happened between the
cracks. . . .” –Bill Kreutzmann
“McNally has presented
an evenhanded treatment of what is arguably the most complex and
multifaceted phenomenon in the history of American music. I highly
recommend it to anyone who really wants to know what we are all
about.” –Owsley “Bear” Stanley
“It’s a simple tale,
really. A band of misfit guys fall in love, stumble blindly onward
and defy gravity, then try to kiss the face of God! This truth is
better than fiction. I hope you all enjoy this odyssey as much as I
have.” –Mickey Hart
“Dennis McNally knows
the Grateful Dead as intimately as they know themselves. His
historian’s eye, his immersion as a Dead ‘family member,’ and
his crazed hippie heart have made this the book to read about the
life, times, and twisted, double-helix road of the band’s
evolution. It’s a great read.” –Peter Coyote
“As I read Dennis’s
book, I knew he is the one person who could tell the history of the
Dead, and why this band survived as it attracted everyone from the
so-called hippie generation to those of us firmly in the
establishment. It is a well-written and valuable history.” –Senator
Patrick J. Leahy
“No novelist, sane or
otherwise, could have invented the ethereal saga of the Grateful
Dead. Dennis McNally’s backstage portrait of the world’s most
liberated rock band is full of unforgettable images, wild and funny
and fascinating.” –Carl Hiaasen
“The Dead has been an
inspiring source of light for countless people. Dennis McNally’s
riveting tale of the longest strangest trip will take you on a
high-altitude training course and leave you prepared for the next
lightning bolt of social and spiritual revelation.” –Bill Walton
“This is McNally’s
view of what went down. It’s more often right than wrong and done
with love, not a grudge, which goes a long way toward excusing
another damned book about the Grateful Dead. Any view of us is
necessarily a limited interpretation, like an aerial photo of Ground
Zero. What Dennis loves and hates about us bears more weight than
most interpretations because he took twenty years to get his facts
straight. I’ll miss him when we kill him.” –Robert Hunter
A
Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
