Ken Kesey most often is characterized as the literary figure who bridged the Beat movement of the 1950s with the 1960s counterculture. This reputation springs from his literary themes of rebellion against societally imposed repression, which links him with the Beats, and his personal experiences as a volunteer in the U. S. government's experiments with psychotropic and hallucinogenic drugs. These latter experiences, coupled with his penchant for communal living and rock music, ensure his status as a preeminent spokesperson for the 1960s counterculture.
Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, in 1935. While he was still a child, he moved to Oregon with his family. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon in 1957, Kesey enrolled in the creative writing program at Stanford University. It was during his student tenure at Stanford that Kesey volunteered as an active participant in the testing of the psychotropic LSD and the hallucinogens mescaline (derived from the mescal or peyote cactus) and psilocybin (mushrooms) at the Veterans' Administration Hospital.
Kesey believed that the perception-altering LSD (in contrast to the actual hallucinogenic qualities of mescaline and psilocybin) was a tool useful for transcending rational consciousness and attaining a higher level of consciousness. Aside from Timothy Leary, whom Kesey met briefly during the Further Tour recounted in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, no person was a more vocal proponent for the use of LSD during the 1960s.
