Hunga Dunga: Confessions of an Unapologetic Hippie

By Phil Polizatto

GIACCO GIORDANO is insane He has organic brain damage from too much LSD. He's harmless, but incurable. The State awards him a paltry stipend, but enough to contribute to the communal coffers of Hunga... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1598587374
• ISBN13: 9781598587371
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
• Length: 596 Pages
• Weight: 3.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

" On the road again"

Hunga Dunga is one of those rare and informative books that the historians will have to come back to read Time n time again. Yes this era really did happen. This book is a colorful template for an era that has yet to be matched. But certainly gives us cause to live up to life's fullest dreams. And Palizatto does just that. He gives us a glimmering glimpse through his hearts eye. A time in the mid 60's where Giacco's journey finds him in San Francisco n the worlds his oyster. Where people like himself had come to collectively create, music, live love, dance, sex n drugs. His colorful descriptions of what it meant for so many searching for life's vitality, for inner spiritual understanding and what the hell it's all about. People stepping out of that inherited cold war box based on fear. Truly a place where people had come together. One can't help but enjoy this page turning book that Giacco shares with us. It's like he hand flashes the peace sign to us and says come with me on my journey. And "geez" what a journey! Especially his loving magical family from Hunga Dunga. You can't help but love them and feel "they had it right". Who would ever have known how enterprising a commune could be. (and a whole community working living and loving side by side) His own travels at times reminded me of my own life's journey. And how life's journey continues. His tales at times were so hilariously funny. I'd loose my page. Then I'd sigh or cry in awed wonderment and oh my gods! (what next !) He could make something simply as playing in the mud~ blissful. I couldn't help but fall in love with his friends and the varied circumstances along the journey. And how they nurtured each other predispositions. Giacco's endearing comments and how he draws you into his surroundings, always letting you know social or political interpretation. Giacco's escapades into exotic countries were tantalizing. We'll always be grateful to the robust native indians who rescued him from those bone chilling icy waters. Hunga Dunga has made me want to dig out my old backpack, head for the highway and throw my thumb up to the warm southwinds. Hunga Dunga was my best read of summer 09'. And will recommend it HighLy.

Turn on Tune In and Drop Into Hunga Dunga!

Hats off to Polizatto for gifting us with Giaccos' story! So often the true depth of Giacco's era is lost when it is simplistically defined as a time where the youth counter culture "turned on, tuned in and dropped out" this definition by no means fully acknowledges what was occurring at the time, nor does it acknowledge the residual impact the era has on our culture today. Giacco's story occurs in an era when many young people broke the bonds of cultural traditions such as the nuclear family; the relentless drive of capitalism; the constraints of materialism; strictly defined sexual norms and a blindly assumed Christian homogeny, to welcome exploration of the vast continuum of alternative possibilities. Brave young souls like Giacco, and other great explorers of culture and thought like him, were bold enough to veer sharply off the path of the cultural norm, and thankfully they didn't fully drop out. Many still live by the values they explored during that era and many of those values are enmeshed in our culture today. We work to refine the laws which protect our right to pursue our spirituality and faith in whatever form we choose, as well as laws to protect our right not to pursue faith at all. We have more freedom to live according to our sexual preferences and to structure our families as we choose. We have support groups, food co-ops; arts alliances, organic produce markets; social and environmental protections and much more seeded in part by the likes of Giacco and friends, who really I'm happy to say, dropped in with their consciousness, not out. Thanks to Giacco and all the explorers of his time for what they have given us, and thanks to Polizatto as well, for his skillful rendering of Giacco's story. Hunga Dunga should be at the top of everyone's must read list!

I love this book!

This is a story of our youth, our families, and our 'tribes' before the deluge. This is a story of hope, wanderlust, love, quests for enlightenment, and a journey that will take you from the streets of San Francisco in the early 70's, across the globe and back again to a dome in the woods of Okanogan County, Washington. This is a story told with hilarity, grace and passion; a tale for those of us whose lives were shaped by the fellowship of those days, and a tale for all who believed that love is all we'd truly need. And, as Giacco put it, "It captured the essence of the times and the underlying message: that if we don't adopt the hippie paradigm, we are screwed! (And we told you that 40 years ago!)" BUY THIS BOOK!

Cosmic

I was blown away by this amazing "true" novel. I'm old enough to remember flower children, San Francisco and Haight Ashbury -- the heyday of the hippie generation. The book reflects everything with incredible realism. But, it doesn't stop there -- there are the trips to India, the search for enlightenment, and the whole "life off the land" adventure. Great characters -- a very rich and rewarding experience.

Fantastic Journey !

An entertaining trip to say the least! I was a little young to experience Woodstock and the Hippie movement first hand, but I knew that something really important was taking place. Hunga Dunga fills in the gaps and illuminates the motivation of a generation of young people who were in search of "Enlighenment" and were focused on making the world a better place for all and had a blast doing it! Though this book is light hearted and fun, it is a must read for those of us who stand ready to try again to change the world for the better. Enjoy the trip!