One of the published reviewers of this book felt the subject did not warrant a 500 page treatment. I would just say that the pace kept my interest and it was evident Leary led an eventful life. The author mentions in the preface that the publisher told him no one would like this book, neither the haters who felt Leary was undeserving of a serious biography nor the idolizers who expected a hagiography. ( )

I will counter with bios I am perusing of Timothy Leary by Robert Greenfield and Upton Sinclair ("Radical Innocents" by Anthony Arthur). Obvious studies in contrasts, but both had alcoholic fathers:

Leary did not fall far from the tree, basically an alcoholic all his life, we all know the rest--a clown prince in the burgeoning global village. Dropped-out of West Point as his alcoholic father who abandoned him and his mother had before him, during the early years of the Big One, over alleged violations of the honor code (involving the consumption of whiskey after the Army-Navy game in Dec., 1940 for which he was ultimately exonerated, but "silenced" for, as were two colored cadets from the moment they entered the hallowed halls, as was the custom in those days. MacArthur, when he was Commandant had tried to eliminate practices he, a distinguished grad, felt were archaic, fitting men for the War of 1812 and not modern warfare, but he had been swiftly overruled. Kinda can't blame Leary for being the iconoclast he was, given the harsh treatment by the system in his formative years. Fascinating study of how he died, oh so publicly, with no remorse. Kesey was his fellow prankster until the end. Laura Huxley was there at his deathbed too. We need people like Leary in this world too.

Sinclair was an early feminist, bitten by his own asp. His lovely first wife cuckholded him to his best friend, a minor poet. He was a precocious and productive child. Teetotaller, friend of Jack London's, Socialist running for governer of California, writer of over 60 novels in his 90 years. (Leary made it to age 76, surprisingly). He is best remembered for "The Jungle," his expose of conditions in the Chicago meat packing plants. He intended to elicit an outcry over the working conditions endured by the employees, but gained fame for exposing all the crap that was in the meat they packed. Adam Smith's invisible hand is also a stomach. We are selfish, self-interested creatures, without a doubt.

Each of them distinctly American seekers.

http://lennyflatley.wordpress.com/2006/09/29/an-interpretation-of-timothy-leary/ ( )