Boing Boing podcast: interview with Timothy Leary biographer John Higgs

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Today, I interviewed John Higgs, author of the biography, I Have America Surrounded: The Life of Timothy Leary.

I read Leary's autobiography,Flashbacks, in the early 80s and enjoyed it, but learned it was full of what Leary called "Irish facts," which are like real facts, only better. Higgs' book appears to be much more accurate, delivering a warts-and-all-story about an infinitely fascinating and inspiring human being. Higgs decided to write the book after he stumbled across a lost archive of Leary's papers, diaries, and letters that a friend had accumulated but never read.

Note: I Have America Surrounded includes a few photos of the principle characters in Leary's life, but if you want more, check out the Russian Leary site, leary.ru, as well as this image gallery, both of which have hundreds of pictures.

Link to MP3 File | Link to Archive.org page