Agents of Chaos by Sean Howe
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The life and times of High Times’ enigmatic founder Thomas King Forçade, an underground newspaper editor and marijuana kingpin who battled both the U.S. government and fellow radicals, in a whirlwind narrative of police raids and smuggling runs—assembled from exclusive interviews, archived private correspondences, and declassified documents.
At the end of the 1960s, the mysterious Tom Forçade suddenly appeared, insinuated himself into the top echelons of the political counterculture, and assumed control of the Underground Press Syndicate, a coalition of newspapers across the country. As he weathered government surveillance and harassment, he embarked on a landmark court battle to obtain White House press credentials. But his outrageous stunts—pieing Congressional panelists, stealing presidential portraits, and picking fights with other activists—led to charges that he was an agent provocateur. He claimed that he was just trying to “advance international surrealism.”
Forçade saw a new path forward—marijuana, he believed, could be used as a tool for cultural and economic revolution. What Playboy had done for sex, High Times would do for marijuana, dragging a taboo subject into the mainstream. Bankrolled by drug-dealing profits, the magazine was a travelogue of globe-trotting adventure and a wellspring of news about “the business” from a worldwide network of sources. With regular updates on legislation, entrepreneurial advice, and charts of price fluctuations, the glossy magazine simultaneously legitimized and commodified drug culture. Its editorials—which warned against corporate interests descending upon legalized weed, and international drug wars serving as cover for imperialist adventures—would prove to be prophetic. But High Times soon threatened to become nothing more than the “hip capitalism” that he’d railed against for so long, and Forçade felt his enemies closing in.
Agents of Chaos is a fast-paced tale about attacks on journalism, disinformation campaigns, governmental secrecy, corporatism, and political factionalism. The tragedies and triumphs of Tom Forçade mirror the cultural transformations of 1970s America, wrought by forces that continue to clash in the spaces between unrest, activism, and power.
At the end of the 1960s, the mysterious Tom Forçade suddenly appeared, insinuated himself into the top echelons of the political counterculture, and assumed control of the Underground Press Syndicate, a coalition of newspapers across the country. As he weathered government surveillance and harassment, he embarked on a landmark court battle to obtain White House press credentials. But his outrageous stunts—pieing Congressional panelists, stealing presidential portraits, and picking fights with other activists—led to charges that he was an agent provocateur. He claimed that he was just trying to “advance international surrealism.”
Forçade saw a new path forward—marijuana, he believed, could be used as a tool for cultural and economic revolution. What Playboy had done for sex, High Times would do for marijuana, dragging a taboo subject into the mainstream. Bankrolled by drug-dealing profits, the magazine was a travelogue of globe-trotting adventure and a wellspring of news about “the business” from a worldwide network of sources. With regular updates on legislation, entrepreneurial advice, and charts of price fluctuations, the glossy magazine simultaneously legitimized and commodified drug culture. Its editorials—which warned against corporate interests descending upon legalized weed, and international drug wars serving as cover for imperialist adventures—would prove to be prophetic. But High Times soon threatened to become nothing more than the “hip capitalism” that he’d railed against for so long, and Forçade felt his enemies closing in.
Agents of Chaos is a fast-paced tale about attacks on journalism, disinformation campaigns, governmental secrecy, corporatism, and political factionalism. The tragedies and triumphs of Tom Forçade mirror the cultural transformations of 1970s America, wrought by forces that continue to clash in the spaces between unrest, activism, and power.
Sean Howe is the author of the New York Times bestseller and Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Bookforum, Wired, and elsewhere. He lives in upstate New York.
On SaleAug 29, 2023
Page Count 416 pages
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN-139780306923913
Page Count 416 pages
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN-139780306923913
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Agents of Chaos by Sean Howe
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