Chatter: Margaret Mead, Psychedelics, and the CIA with Benjamin Breen
The Lawfare Podcast14 Maalis 2024

Chatter: Margaret Mead, Psychedelics, and the CIA with Benjamin Breen

If you’re listening to this podcast, chances are you’ve heard stories about the CIA’s experiments with drugs, particularly LSD, during the infamous MKUltra program. But you may not know that the characters involved in that dubious effort connect to one of the 20th Century’s most famous and revered scientists, the anthropologist Margaret Mead.


Shane Harris talked with historian Benjamin Breen about this new book, Tripping on Utopia, which tells the story of how Mead and her close circle launched a movement to expand human consciousness, decades before the counterculture of the 1960s popularized, and ultimately stigmatized, psychedelic drugs. Mead and Gregory Bateson--her collaborator and one-time husband--are at the center of a story that includes the WWII-era Office of Strategic Services, a shady cast of CIA agents and operatives, Beat poets, and the pioneers of the Information Age.


Psychedelics are having a renaissance, with federal regulators poised to legalize their use - Breen’s book is an engrossing history that explores the roots of that movement and how it influenced and collided with the U.S. national security establishment.

Books, movies, and other points of interest discussed in this conversation include:


Also check out:


Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(2924)

Episode #53: Inside NSA, Part II--Wherein We Interview the Agency's Chief of Compliance, John DeLong

Episode #53: Inside NSA, Part II--Wherein We Interview the Agency's Chief of Compliance, John DeLong

In the second episode of our series, "Inside NSA: We Brought In a Recording Device So You Don't Have To," Robert Chesney and Benjamin Wittes talk to John DeLong, the agency's chief of compliance. They...

17 Joulu 201352min

Episode #52: Inside NSA, Part I--A Discusison with General Counsel Rajesh De

Episode #52: Inside NSA, Part I--A Discusison with General Counsel Rajesh De

The first episode in our series, "Inside NSA: We Brought in a Recording Device So You Don't Have To": An interview with NSA General Counsel Rajesh De.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfa...

16 Joulu 201355min

Episode #51: Colombia's Minister of National Defense Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno Speaks at Brookings

Episode #51: Colombia's Minister of National Defense Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno Speaks at Brookings

After more than four decades of conflict, Colombia has made substantial progress under the Uribe and Santos administrations in combating drug trafficking and insurgents and demobilizing paramilitary g...

6 Joulu 20131h 1min

Episode #50: DIA Chief Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn Speaks at Brookings

Episode #50: DIA Chief Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn Speaks at Brookings

The exponential rate of change in the present global environment makes today’s security landscape particularly challenging, and projections promise that the challenges will only increase. In this comp...

30 Marras 201359min

Episode #49: A Panel at NYU on "Law and Strategy in the Executive Branch"

Episode #49: A Panel at NYU on "Law and Strategy in the Executive Branch"

In an panel discussion at NYU, a former White House Counsel, a former chief of staff to the CIA director and Secretary of Defense, a former FBI general counsel, and a former head of NCTC discuss law a...

22 Marras 20131h 10min

Episode #48: Jack Goldsmith Speaks at Hoover to and on the National Security Press

Episode #48: Jack Goldsmith Speaks at Hoover to and on the National Security Press

In the third and final installment of our series of sessions from the October 25 Hoover Media Colloquium, Jack goes mano a mano with the press corps on national security leaks and journalism. Support ...

8 Marras 201358min

Episode #47: Matthew Waxman and Kenneth Anderson Speak on Autonomous Weapons at Hoover

Episode #47: Matthew Waxman and Kenneth Anderson Speak on Autonomous Weapons at Hoover

Matthew Waxman and Kenneth Anderson speak at the Hoover Institution on autonomous weapons before a group of journalists.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

6 Marras 20131h

Episode #46: Benjamin Wittes Speaks at Hoover on "Speaking the Law"

Episode #46: Benjamin Wittes Speaks at Hoover on "Speaking the Law"

Benjamin Wittes speaks on his and Kenneth Anderson's book, Speaking the Law, at an October 25 media colloquium at the Hoover Institution. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted o...

1 Marras 20131h 3min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
viisupodi
rss-podme-livebox
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-pinnalla
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
aihe
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-asiastudio
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-vain-talouselamaa