Community › General › Book Review: Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA & the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age by Norman Ohler
Book Review: Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA & the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age by Norman Ohler
Review: "Tripped" – The wild, dark history of LSD (and why I still think about it)
Hey everyone, HarmReductionEnjoyer here.
I was thinking back on a book I read a while ago that is highly relevant to this community: Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age by Norman Ohler.
Instead of just rehashing the 1960s counterculture movement, this book dives into the really bizarre, nerdy, and sometimes horrifying historical context of LSD. Looking back on it, here is my quick breakdown of what stuck with me.
What I loved about it
The personal anchor: The whole reason Ohler starts researching LSD is because he desperately wants to see if it will help his mother's severe Alzheimer’s. She was deteriorating badly and refusing medication. Spoiler alert: they try microdosing at Christmas, she sticks with it, and months later she is functioning almost normally again. It’s a genuinely tear-jerking, happy ending.
Nerdy historical context: There are so many wild details I had never heard of. For instance, to secure LSD production despite food scarcity during WWII, Sandoz labs convinced Swiss farmers to stop growing hardy wheat and switch to rye, actively infecting their crops using a literal "ergot gun."
Bicycle Day context: We all know the story of Albert Hoffman taking 250 micrograms and riding his bike home. But Ohler points out that Hoffman was tripping balls on a massive double-dose while cycling through a town occupied by actual Nazis. If that isn’t the ultimate lesson in managing set, setting, and dosage, I don't know what is.
The horrifying bits
Understanding the stigma: When we look at why psychedelics are so heavily stigmatized today, this book lays out the horrifying receipt. The Nazis originally wanted to create a mind-control drug to neutralize willpower. Later, the CIA funded Dr. Ewen Cameron in 1954 to try and "depattern" patients. He put them in induced comas, gave them electroshock therapy to wipe their minds blank, and then looped audio messages to them while they were dosed with LSD.
Add in the fact that CIA spymaster Sidney Gottlieb was just casually spiking his own staff's coffee with acid in the breakroom, and it’s honestly no wonder contemporary medicine has been so loathe to touch psychedelics for the last 60 years.
What I didn't like
Stretching into conspiracy: While the fact-based government sketchiness is fascinating, there are parts where the book stretches a bit too hard without solid evidence. For example, Ohler strongly hints that Mary Pinchot Meyer was supplying JFK with LSD, and that acid is what influenced Kennedy’s decision to quit the arms race with Russia. It felt a bit tenuous compared to the rest of the rock-solid archival research.
Overall, despite some of the wilder leaps in logic, it’s entirely worth learning this history to understand exactly how LSD got to where it is now.
Did anyone else catch this one when it came out? Would love to hear your thoughts.
--
HarmReductionEnjoyer
Hey everyone, HarmReductionEnjoyer here.
I was thinking back on a book I read a while ago that is highly relevant to this community: Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age by Norman Ohler.
Instead of just rehashing the 1960s counterculture movement, this book dives into the really bizarre, nerdy, and sometimes horrifying historical context of LSD. Looking back on it, here is my quick breakdown of what stuck with me.
What I loved about it
The personal anchor: The whole reason Ohler starts researching LSD is because he desperately wants to see if it will help his mother's severe Alzheimer’s. She was deteriorating badly and refusing medication. Spoiler alert: they try microdosing at Christmas, she sticks with it, and months later she is functioning almost normally again. It’s a genuinely tear-jerking, happy ending.
Nerdy historical context: There are so many wild details I had never heard of. For instance, to secure LSD production despite food scarcity during WWII, Sandoz labs convinced Swiss farmers to stop growing hardy wheat and switch to rye, actively infecting their crops using a literal "ergot gun."
Bicycle Day context: We all know the story of Albert Hoffman taking 250 micrograms and riding his bike home. But Ohler points out that Hoffman was tripping balls on a massive double-dose while cycling through a town occupied by actual Nazis. If that isn’t the ultimate lesson in managing set, setting, and dosage, I don't know what is.
The horrifying bits
Understanding the stigma: When we look at why psychedelics are so heavily stigmatized today, this book lays out the horrifying receipt. The Nazis originally wanted to create a mind-control drug to neutralize willpower. Later, the CIA funded Dr. Ewen Cameron in 1954 to try and "depattern" patients. He put them in induced comas, gave them electroshock therapy to wipe their minds blank, and then looped audio messages to them while they were dosed with LSD.
Add in the fact that CIA spymaster Sidney Gottlieb was just casually spiking his own staff's coffee with acid in the breakroom, and it’s honestly no wonder contemporary medicine has been so loathe to touch psychedelics for the last 60 years.
What I didn't like
Stretching into conspiracy: While the fact-based government sketchiness is fascinating, there are parts where the book stretches a bit too hard without solid evidence. For example, Ohler strongly hints that Mary Pinchot Meyer was supplying JFK with LSD, and that acid is what influenced Kennedy’s decision to quit the arms race with Russia. It felt a bit tenuous compared to the rest of the rock-solid archival research.
Overall, despite some of the wilder leaps in logic, it’s entirely worth learning this history to understand exactly how LSD got to where it is now.
Did anyone else catch this one when it came out? Would love to hear your thoughts.
--
HarmReductionEnjoyer
Discussion
Thanks for the review!
One quick historical detail about the Bicycle Day part. Albert Hofmann lived in Basel, Switzerland, which stayed neutral during WWII. It was never actually occupied, so he didn't have to ride his bike past actual Nazi soldiers.
Your point about his wild set and setting is still totally accurate though. Basel is right on the border. In 1943, they were surrounded by Axis forces, lived under blackout rules, and could literally hear the artillery just a few miles away. Tripping on a massive dose of an unknown chemical while the worst war in history is happening next door is still an insane situation.
The book sounds really interesting. I just ordered a copy. Will try to update once I have managed to read it.
One quick historical detail about the Bicycle Day part. Albert Hofmann lived in Basel, Switzerland, which stayed neutral during WWII. It was never actually occupied, so he didn't have to ride his bike past actual Nazi soldiers.
Your point about his wild set and setting is still totally accurate though. Basel is right on the border. In 1943, they were surrounded by Axis forces, lived under blackout rules, and could literally hear the artillery just a few miles away. Tripping on a massive dose of an unknown chemical while the worst war in history is happening next door is still an insane situation.
The book sounds really interesting. I just ordered a copy. Will try to update once I have managed to read it.