Through the words of those who embraced the lifestyle and fantastic illustrations letting the whole lifestyle hang out, this book immerses you in the Hippie movement of the late 60s and early 70s. The book takes the reader through the fashion, philosophy, music, literature, films, and politics of the Hippie ideal tracing its growth from the Beats in the 1950s (and with a brief nod to the Bloomsbury Set of the 1920s), to the peace-demanding flower children of the Vietnam years. Portraits of the main men and women sit alongside the tales of those who hugged and those who shrugged at this culture and its preaching of colour, calm and happiness. Reminiscences and experiences are provided by (among others) Jack Kerouac, Timothy Leary, Ossie Clark, Tariq Ali, Peter and Jane Fonda, Janis Joplin, Richard Branson, Germaine Greer, Jerry Garcia, De La Soul, Ben and Jerry and Reverend Jesse Jackson.