with Dennis McNally
Tues. June 2nd, 8pm
Dennis McNally has spent a lifetime covering counterculture history — often from the vantage of being right in the middle of it. Himself a resident of the Haight in the 1960s, he can tell you firsthand what the scene was like in those days, and all about the confluence of forces that made it all happen.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. To understand the counterculture, one must go back to its roots. McNally’s Desolate Angel is the second-ever biography of writer Jack Kerouac, whose restless American odyssey and improvisational, jazz-infused prose made him a reluctant catalyst to the tumultuous years that followed WWII. On Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom weaves together over a hundred years of American music, and provides valuable insight into how the intersection of music and race continue to play out today. A Long Strange Trip is the definitive history of the Grateful Dead, covering three decades from the band’s origins in the Haight-Ashbury counterculture through Jerry Garcia’s passing in 1995. His latest book, The Last Great Dream explores the transition from the bohemian subcultures like the Beat Generation post-WWII to the youth-driven movements of the 1960s.
Join us for an evening with Dennis McNally, as he retraces these pivotal movements, and their impact on American culture.
