Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic

Description: A definitive history of mescaline that explores its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to Western modernity

Review Quotes: "Mike Jay is an eminent writer on mind-stilling and mind-expanding substances [. . .] Mescaline reads like the culmination of a lifetime's wanderings in the very farthest out-posts of scientific and medical history"-- Ian Sansom, The Guardian
"Mike Jay's history of mescaline use is a bit of a mind-altering experience itself"--The Economist
"This is a terrific account of mescaline, the first psychedelic. Mike Jay has nailed it."--Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind

"Mike Jay is the Neil Armstrong of today's psychonauts. In Mescaline an incredible amount of scholarly and personal research is beautifully presented and ordered in a sensible chronology that really works to channel potentially disruptive and mad matter into a fascinating cultural history. I just Ioved the last chapter which brought everything back to its proper place in a careful Native American ritual. It made the most emotionally satisfying ending to an extraordinary trip..." --Nicholas Rankin, author of Telegram from Guernica

'Mike Jay is one of the most wise, well-informed, clever and funny voices on drugs in the world. Everyone should read everything he writes - it is consistently brilliant'--Johann Hari, author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections