The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary
Susannah Cahalan
Jun 2025 · Canongate Books
Ebook
384
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
infoThis book will become available on June 5, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
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 US 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 shaping – for better and for worse – the 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Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her.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.
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 shaping – for better and for worse – the 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Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her.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.
About the author
Susannah Cahalan is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author, journalist and public speaker. Brain on Fire sold over a million copies and was made into a Netflix original movie. The Great Pretender was named one of the best books of 2020 by the Guardian, Telegraph and The Times; it was also shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society’s Science Book Award. She has written for the New York Times, Elle, New Scientist and BBC’s Focus, as well as academic journals the Lancet and Biological Psychiatry.
susannahcahalan.com | @suscahalan
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
