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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Memoirs

THE ACID QUEEN

Susannah Cahalan

The untold story of the woman who played a critical role in bringing psychedelics into the mainstream - until her audacious exploits forced her into the shadows - from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire

Rosemary Woodruff Leary has been known only as the wife of Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor-turned-psychedelic high priest, whose jailbreak captivated the counterculture and whose life on the run with Rosemary inflamed the government. But Rosemary was more than a mere accessory. She was a beatnik, a psychonaut, and a true believer who tested the limits of her mind and the expectations for women of her time.

Long overlooked by those who have venerated her husband, Rosemary spent her life on the forefront of the counterculture, working with Leary on his books and speeches, sewing his clothing, and shapingfor better and for worsethe media's narrative about LSD. Ultimately, Rosemary sacrificed everything for the safety of her fellow psychedelic pioneers and the preservation of her husband's legacy.

Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives, and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her. Page-turning, revelatory, and utterly compelling, The Acid Queen shines an overdue spotlight on a pioneering psychedelic seeker.

Susannah Cahalan is an award-winning #1 New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and public speaker. Her 2012 memoir Brain on Fire has sold over a million copies and was made into a Netflix original movie in 2016. Her second book The Great Pretender was shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society's Science Book Award. She has written for The New York Times, The New York Post, The Atlantic, and many other trade and academic periodicals.

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Book Published 2025-04-22 by Viking

Comments

Cahalan shines a light on one of the twentieth century's most amazing untold life stories. Rosemary Woodruff Leary blazed an astonishing trail through the red hot center of Sixties counterculturethe downtown Beats, the pioneers of hallucinogenics, the Summer of Love, rock and roll royalty, the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, and more. With her captivating storytelling, Cahalan helps us all see this wildly misunderstood epoch of American life with new eyes. An essential readand an unforgettable trip.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary was one of the great unsung heroines of the 1960s. Susannah Cahalan's brilliant account of this woman's incredibly courageous life in trou- bled times not only brings Rosemary back to life but also finally accords her the place in the history of that era she has always so richly deserved.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary was more than just the First Lady of 1960s counterculture. As this deeply researched, fun, and fascinating biography from the Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan reveals, Learywho was married to psychedelic icon Timothy Learyis no mere supporting character. Instead, the biography depicts a smart, driven, creative, and cunning woman who lived a life just as interesting, if far less known, than that of her one-time husband. After all, he wasn't the one who broke her out of prison, was he?

Cahalan details a piece of lost but fasci- nating history, the story of a woman who embodied an era of freedom, experi- mentation, and psychedelic adven- ture. Meticulously reported and beautifully crafted.

When I finished reading this intoxicating book, I both better understood the American counterculture and had exhilarating new ideas about what it means to be a woman in the world.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary defied the FBI, the CIA, the American prison system, and her famous husband to become a fugitive. But who was she really running from? That fascinating question looms over Susannah Cahalan's insightful, intimate biography part romance, part thriller, all astounding.

UK/C: Canongate

Cahalan has done the world a service in restoring Rosemary's legacy with this stellar biography, which is rich in sumptuous detail, both personal and historic, and is artfully constructed from the archives. Whether you know anything about the acid scene or are a complete novice, there is so much to enjoy in this excellent book.

A fascinating portrait of an unsung hero of the counterculture. I couldn't put it down!