Susannah Cahalan’s new book about Rosemary Woodruff Leary is "The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary." It is a portrait of Rosemary and her critical role to Timothy Leary’s rise to high priest—and her trailblazing role for women in ‘60s American counterculture.
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 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 and, shaping—for better and for worse—the media’s narrative about LSD.
