All right, everybody, welcome to The Other People Show, a weekly program featuring in-depth conversations with today's leading writers.

I'm Brad Listy. This is my podcast. Welcome to it. Thanks for being here. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button wherever

you listen and you can follow me on Instagram and Blue Sky. Today I'm going to be speaking with

Susanna Cahalan, author of a new book called The Acid Queen, The Psychedelic Life

and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary.

It is available from Viking, and it tells the untold story of a woman who played a critical role in bringing psychedelics into the mainstream,

until she was forced into the shadows as a result of these exploits, where she remained for a long time.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary was the wife of Timothy Leary, the notorious Harvard professor

turned psychedelic high priest. He was referred to by the Nixon administration as the

most dangerous man in America. And in many ways,

this is a familiar story. Rosemary Woodruff Leary was involved with this very charismatic,

very complicated, very famous man. And she was often underestimated or dismissed or ignored.

And yet behind the scenes, she was making very significant contributions to the work that was being done. So this biography functions as a

kind of reclamation project, illuminating Rosemary's individual story and the vital role that she played in helping

to create the counterculture. It's a very important and fascinating read for anybody who is interested

in the history of psychedelics and the counterculture and their many ripple effects, which are still being felt to this day.

Once again, the book is called The Acid Queen, and my conversation with Susanna Cahalan

is coming up momentarily.

Today's episode is brought to you by Penguin Press, publisher of the debut novel Pan by Michael

Clune, the critically acclaimed author of the memoirs, Game Life, and Whiteout, the secret life

heroin. Pan was the official August pick of the Other People book club. That is my book club. If you want to join the book club,

you can do that at other ppl.com, the show's official website, get a new book delivered to your door.

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