Review: 'Storming Heaven' by Jay Stevens

Originally published in 1987 'Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream' by Jay Stevens is one of a number of heavyweight histories of LSD and American culture. The narrative non-fiction format makes the text very entertaining and, whilst not stinting on the details, it provides the reader with a simple and accessible presentation of what was a many-threaded and complex historical period.

Like all historical books that have LSD at their heart 'Storming Heaven' begins in Switzerland where in 1943, 5 years after the semi-synthetic was first developed, Albert Hofmann discovered its hallucinogenic properties. It was on the 19th of April that Hofmann became the first individual to intentionally consume LSD and the repercussions of this event are still being felt today. However, its most intense period of being a widespread social phenomena occurred in the U.S.A during the 1960s and it is this period the text concentrates on.