Summer of Love: Haight-Ashbury at its Highest

By Gene Anthony

Book Overview

Copyright 1995 by Eugene Anthony This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0867194219
• ISBN13: 9780867194210
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Last Gasp
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.3" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Innocent, Naive, & Hopeful

This visual essay of hippies in San Francisco and especially in the Haight Ashbury area during the Summer of Love (1967), does a good job of portraying the surface of the scene. The attentive viewer will notice that all the photographer's subjects are well-fed, white, and typically very young. These qualities were in fact characteristic of the hippie phenomenon, rightly viewed as a middle-class revolt against conformism and institutionalized violence. It's a good idea to remember that at the time these innocent youths--of whom I was one--were assembling in an undirected, searching way at the Be Ins and Love Ins, most black people in America still could not vote without great personal risk; the Vietnam war was in full swing; and in most locales of America, it was an invitation to harassment or even assault to wear hair or clothing in unusual and flamboyant fashion. What is not shown here--and why I give this photographic essay only four stars--is the real underside of the hippie phenomenon. This is not the place to write at length about the bad trips, murders of drug dealers, or exploitation of innocent youth (especially women) appearing on the scene, expecting to be loved, protected, and cared for. That there were indeed widespread acts of love and concern for others, including total strangers, is a credit to the ethos that marked especially the earlier phase of the hippie phenomenon. Once the hippie scene became marketable, this supposed alternative quickly devolved into simply another commercial venue...prompting the famous "Death of Hippie" parade through the Haight. The value of this volume is of course historical, and there is a wide variety of subjects and personalities to make it visually appealing apart from any knowledge of the place and time it portrays. Most of the photos are in black and white, with a small, full-color middle section. Some of the famous personalities portrayed include Allen Ginsburg, Timothy Leary, and rock performers such as Grace Slick. This is a partial but accurate portrayal of a moment in our history when millions of young people simultaneously asked whether commercialism and war were the future they wanted for themselves. That question remains in front of us; perhaps a better answer is still to come. P.S. There used to be 9-10 comments on this review; I wonder where they went to.

Innocent, Naive, & Hopeful

This visual essay of hippies in San Francisco and especially in the Haight Ashbury area during the Summer of Love (1967), does a good job of portraying the surface of the scene. The attentive viewer will notice that all the photographer's subjects are well-fed, white, and typically very young. These qualities were in fact characteristic of the hippie phenomenon, rightly viewed as a middle-class revolt against conformism and institutionalized violence. It's a good idea to remember that at the time these innocent youths--of whom I was one--were assembling in an undirected, searching way at the Be Ins and Love Ins, most black people in America still could not vote without great personal risk; the Vietnam war was in full swing; and in most locales of America, it was an invitation to harassment or even assault to wear hair or clothing in unusual and flamboyant fashion. What is not shown here--and why I give this photographic essay only four stars--is the real underside of the hippie phenomenon. This is not the place to write at length about the bad trips, murders of drug dealers, or exploitation of innocent youth (especially women) appearing on the scene, expecting to be loved, protected, and cared for. That there were indeed widespread acts of love and concern for others, including total strangers, is a credit to the ethos that marked especially the earlier phase of the hippie phenomenon. Once the hippie scene became marketable, this supposed alternative quickly devolved into simply another commercial venue...prompting the famous "Death of Hippie" parade through the Haight. The value of this volume is of course historical, and there is a wide variety of subjects and personalities to make it visually appealing apart from any knowledge of the place and time it portrays. Most of the photos are in black and white, with a small, full-color middle section. Some of the famous personalities portrayed include Allen Ginsburg, Timothy Leary, and rock performers such as Grace Slick. This is a partial but accurate portrayal of a moment in our history when millions of young people simultaneously asked whether commercialism and war were the future they wanted for themselves. That question remains in front of us; perhaps a better answer is still to come.