NPR

Nixon's Manhunt For The High Priest Of LSD In 'The Most Dangerous Man In America'

Author Bill Minutaglio's new book chronicles Timothy Leary's international escape from a California prison and the president's campaign to make him the poster child for his war on drugs.
Dr. Timothy Leary, an advocate for LSD, working at his desk.

In the early 1970s, with a counter-cultural revolution in full swing, an unlikely figure became the No. 1 enemy of the state — Timothy Leary, the so called "High Priest of LSD." Leary was a former Harvard psychologist who left the ivory tower behind to spread the gospel of psychedelics. After breaking out of a California prison, he went on the run, sparking a madcap manhunt for a bumbling fugitive.

Steven L. Davis and Bill Minutaglio's new book asks if Leary really was "the most dangerous man in America," as President Richard Nixon claimed. The story follows Leary as he hops from country to country, trying to stay one step ahead of the Nixon administration.

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