Jay Stevens
Jay Karl Stevens (November 11, 1953 – February 19, 2025)[1] was a freelance writer and social historian.[2] Stevens was born and raised into a family of farmers in Springfield, Vermont. He attended school there as a child and then Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, going on to the University of Vermont after graduation.[1]
He is the author of Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream (1987), which has been described as a "classic" by historian David Farber[3] and "the quintessential work on the history of LSD in America" by Kristin Robinson.[4] Historian of science and medicine Benjamin Breen also recommends the book for those wishing to learn more about the history of LSD.[5]
Stevens is also the co-author of Drumming at the Edge of Magic with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart and ethnomusicologist Fredric Lieberman.[6] He founded Applied Orphics, a digital marketing and distribution company, and Rap Lab, a program bringing at-risk teenagers and professional musicians and poets together.[7][8] Prior to his death, he was living at his family farm in Weathersfield Bow, Vermont, where he produced maple syrup.[1]
Selected works
[edit]- Books
- Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream (1987) ISBN 9780871130761
- Drumming at the Edge of Magic (with Mickey Hart & Fredric Lieberman) (1990) ISBN 9780062503725
- Planet Drum: A Celebration of Percussion and Rhythm (with Mickey Hart & Fredric Lieberman) (1991) ISBN 9780062504142
- The Sixties edited by Peter Stine, Jay Stevens contributor. Wayne State University Press (January 1, 1996) ISBN 0814325580, ISBN 978-0814325582
- Discography
- Dance House by Jay Stevens and Derek Young (2012) [1]
- Orphic Revival by Jay Karl Stevens and The Raven (2013) [2]
- Articles
- "Keeper of the Vermont Character" Yankee Magazine (March, 1992).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Jay Karl Stevens". Obituary. Valley News, Lebanon, New Hampshire. March 13, 2025. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
- ^ Cohen, Richard (1998). "Stevens, Jay (Karl) 195(?)–". In Peacock, Scot; Rooney, Terrie M. (ed). Contemporary Authors. 166. Gale. pp. 378-379. ISBN 9780787626679. OCLC 40144873.
- ^ Farber, David (Spring 2006). "Can't Find My Way: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000." The Historian. 68 (1): 169.
- ^ Robinson, Kristin (July 1988). "Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream". Humanist. 48 (4): 40.
- Strassman, Rick J. (March 1989). "Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties Rebellion; Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream". The American Journal of Psychiatry. American Psychiatric Association. 146 (3): 395–396.
- ^ Breen, Benjamin (2024). Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781538722374. OCLC 1378372597. Quote: "A Note on Sources...For further reading on the history of LSD in particular, see Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD (New York: Grove Press, 1992); and Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987)."
- ^ Dunham, Elisabeth (November 14, 1990). "Drummer goes back to his roots". Lawrence Journal-World. Associated Press. pp. 1–2.
- ^ Rap Music Used in Court Diversion Program by Jane Lindholm and Matt Bushlow for Vermont Public Radio
- ^ "Video about Rap Lab and audio clip in Vermont Life". Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
Further reading
[edit]- Stevens, Jay (1991)[1987]. "Introduction". In Whitmer, Peter O., and Van Wyngarden, Bruce. Aquarius Revisited: Seven Who Created the Sixties Counterculture That Changed America. Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806512228. OCLC 24781258.
External links
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