Getting high : marijuana through the ages / John Charles Chasteen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chasteen, John Charles, 1955- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marijuana abuse--History.

Marijuana abuse.

Marijuana--History.

Marijuana.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 157 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2016]

Summary:

This engaging book traces the global history of marijuana, reaching back thousands of years. Noted historian John Charles Chasteen follows the use of the drug since Neolithic times, which makes marijuana among the first domesticated plants. Surprisingly, though, only infrequently has it been used as a recreational drug. Instead, there is a vibrant spiritual dimension to its long history that has been continually ignored. Beginning with the familiar "outbreak" of the 1960s, Chasteen unearths successive layers of marijuana's history. Written with insight, clarity, sophistication, and good humor, this deeply informed work discusses the cultivation of cannabis and its many forms, including hemp, one of the world's principal fiber crops. After a tour of Latin America, Africa, India, and the Muslim world, Chasteen concludes that unlike alcohol marijuana has always flourished outside the mainstream. Its principal users have been creative outsiders of many kinds--mystics, artists, musicians, free thinkers, and spiritual seekers--as well as poor laborers atrracted by its low cost. Marijuana, it seems, is a mind-expanding drug after all, and Chasteen explores its rich heritage with captivating insight. -- Front jacket flap.

Contents:

1 Getting High 1

Trouble with the Police 5

Meet the Cannabis Plant 12

2 American Century 17

The Early Years 20

The Marihuana Tax Act, 1937 23

Rise and Fall of the Counterculture 28

Drug War, Culture War 37

News Flash 42

3 Atlantic World 45

Hemp and Rum, Strategic Resources 46

Mexico, and a Mystery 50

Colombia and Jamaica 58

Brazil and the African Connection 64

Africa, South of the Congo 70

4 Medieval Hashish 77

Wine versus Hashish 79

Hashish in Muslim Society 82

God's Unruly Friends 87

The Assassin Legend 94

Not for Everybody 99

5 Asian Origins 103

Historic India 103

The Prehistoric Eurasian Steppes 113

The Silk Road and Beyond 120

The Earliest Horizon 127

6 Epiphanies 133.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781442254695

1442254696

OCLC:

913333997