Hep-cats, Narcs and Pipe Dreams: A History of America's Romance with Illegal Drugs - Softcover

Jonnes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801861659 ISBN 13: 9780801861659

Publisher: John Hopkins University Press, 1999

Synopsis

"Fascinating, well researched and finely honed...This is a must read."--Judge Peggy F. Hora, 'California Bench' Once upon a time in America, morphine and cocaine were routinely sold in pharmacies, and "hop heads" gathered in shadowy basements to smoke opium. So begins 'Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams', Jill Jonnes's ground-breaking history of illegal drugs in America. Jonnes vividly traces our first turn-of-the-century drug epidemic, successfully quelled, and then follows the story into the postwar era: starting in the jazz world of the northern cities and moving through the "flower power" 1960s to the cocaine and crack explosion of the 1980s and 1990s.

About this title

Review:

"Disturbing and fascinating." -- Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times "A colorful history of drugs and their glamorization." -- Kansas City Star "Combin[es] indelible profiles of individuals with shrewd cultural analysis." -- Booklist "Filled with fascinating anecdotes and factoids." -- Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post Book World "There is no other book that affords so detailed and well documented a history of illegal drugs in the United States since 1885... a richly detailed and textured history." -- Dwight B. Heath, Addiction "Exhaustively researched... compelling... For those interested in learning more about the history of drug abuse in America, or obtaining a fuller appreciation of the current problem, Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams is a valuable resource." -- Jim Shea, Hartford Courant "A classic, as fine a history of America's experience with illegal drugs as we are likely to see and a delight to read. The author writes with such pace and excitement that you cannot wait to find out what's on the next page... put 'Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams' in your permanent collection." -- Joseph A. Califano, Jr., America "'Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams' tracks the colorful careers of movie stars and street junkies, drug traffickers and federal agents, to document journalist Jill Jonnes's chillingly plausible thesis: that drug abuse is as much a part of our national heritage as Mom, the flag, and apple pie... Jonnes's book is lively, anecdotal, and entertaining -- until we stop to consider the reality of a substance abusing nation." -- Francine Prose, Elle "Besides its wonderful title, 'Hep-Cats' has several things to recommend it. First, it's comprehensive: It can sit on your bookshelf next to Gray's Anatomy as an encyclopedia of what people do to their minds and bodies. Then there are the anecdotes, like the one that had my friend reading it aloud on a Metro North train, sputtering with laughter at the antics of Leary and Ginsberg. And finally, there's the no- nonsense prose -- this is a foundation history, a solid fact-filled book on which more whimsical interpretations will be built." -- Stephen Talty, Time Out New York "This sweeping, highly colorful, riveting narrative resurrects a largely forgotten history of drug use and abuse in the U.S... Beginning with Chinese opium dens, patent medicines and early, ostensibly anti- drug Hollywood movies portraying druggies as glamorous hedonistic rebels, she moves on to jazz-age Harlem, 1950s Beat hipsters and then to the 1960s counterculture... Her entertaining chronicle includes side trips to 1930s Paris, the N.Y.C. mob underworld, Marseille's Corsican, CIA-abetted drug network if the 1950s and '60s and today's Colombian cocaine cartels. It culminates with a compelling argument against legalization or decriminalization." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Combin es indelible profiles of individuals with shrewd cultural analysis." -- Booklist "This sweeping, highly colorful, riveting narrative resurrects a largely forgotten history of drug use and abuse in the U.S... Beginning with Chinese opium dens, patent medicines and early, ostensibly anti- drug Hollywood movies portraying druggies as glamorous hedonistic rebels, she moves on to jazz-age Harlem, 1950s Beat hipsters and then to the 1960s counterculture... Her entertaining chronicle includes side trips to 1930s Paris, the N.Y.C. mob underworld, Marseille's Corsican, CIA-abetted drug network if the 1950s and '60s and today's Colombian cocaine cartels. It culminates with a compelling argument against legalization or decriminalization." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Besides its wonderful title, 'Hep-Cats' has several things to recommend it. First, it's comprehensive: It can sit on your bookshelf next to Gray's Anatomy as an encyclopedia of what people do to their minds and bodies. Then there are the anecdotes, like the one that had my friend reading it aloud on a Metro North train, sputtering with laughter at the antics of Leary and Ginsberg. And finally, there's the no- nonsense prose -- this is a foundation history, a solid fact-filled book on which more whimsical interpretations will be built." -- Stephen Talty, Time Out New York "'Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams' tracks the colorful careers of movie stars and street junkies, drug traffickers and federal agents, to document journalist Jill Jonnes's chillingly plausible thesis: that drug abuse is as much a part of our national heritage as Mom, the flag, and apple pie... Jonnes's book is lively, anecdotal, and entertaining -- until we stop to consider the reality of a substance abusing nation." -- Francine Prose, Elle "A classic, as fine a history of America's experience with illegal drugs as we are likely to see and a delight to read. The author writes with such pace and excitement that you cannot wait to find out what's on the next page... put 'Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams' in your permanent collection." -- Joseph A. Califano, Jr., America "Exhaustively researched... compelling... For those interested in learning more about the history of drug abuse in America, or obtaining a fuller appreciation of the current problem, Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams is a valuable resource." -- Jim Shea, Hartford Courant "There is no other book that affords so detailed and well documented a history of illegal drugs in the United States since 1885... a richly detailed and textured history." -- Dwight B. Heath, Addiction "Filled with fascinating anecdotes and factoids." -- Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post Book World "Combin[es] indelible profiles of individuals with shrewd cultural analysis." -- Booklist "A colorful history of drugs and their glamorization." -- Kansas City Star "Disturbing and fascinating." -- Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author:

Jill Jonnes had been a journalist for many years when she earned a Ph.D. degree in history from Johns Hopkins. She curated the new U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Museum's exhibit "Illegal Drugs in America: A Modern History."

About this edition

• Publisher: John Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0801861659
• ISBN 13: 9780801861659
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520