Writing on Drugs - Softcover

Plant, Sadie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571196160 ISBN 13: 9780571196166

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1999

Synopsis

Modern culture has found itself on drugs. Beyond their psychoactive effects, they have shaped some of the modern era's most fundamental philosophies and even helped expose the neurochemistry of the human brain. This examination of writing on drugs, including Coleridge on opium, Michaux on mescaline, Freud on cocaine and Burroughs on everything, is an exploration of the profound and pervasive influence of drugs on contemporary and historical culture. The author argues that drugs have been integral to modern politics, media and technology.

About this title

Review:

'A fascinating cultural quest to discover how such blanket - and in the end blind - moral prohibition has come to the fore in our relationship to narcotics... she balances accessibility with intellectual rigour... she weaves writers' experiences of amazing highs with the cold, hard science of how chemicals would have interacted with their synapses to get them tripping.' Tim Teeman, The Times 'It is something of a relief to turn to the poised clarity with which Plant anatomises our species' varied relationships with stuff that makes your head go funny.' Charles Shaar Murray, Independent 'A comprehensive account of how drugs have come to shape the modern world.' The Face

Book Description:

Writing on Drugs by Sadie Plant is fascinating look at an ignored aspect of our history and culture, a 'comprehensive account of how drugs have come to shape the modern world.' (The Face)

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0571196160
• ISBN 13: 9780571196166
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288