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Full text of this paper is not available in the ETD Center. Copies may be available for inter-library loan from Ohio University or may be available for purchase from Proquest/UMI

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Glossy Visions: Coverage of LSD in Popular Magazines, 1954-1968

Siff, Stephen I.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1225818399

Abstract Details

2008, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Mass Communication (Communication).
The subjective experience offered by the drug LSD was of intense interest to popular magazines for years before the drug entered widespread recreational use. While both were absent from coverage of other drugs, personal descriptions of drug experiences and visual illustrations of the drug's effects were commonplace in magazine coverage of LSD. A content analysis of popular magazine articles about LSD from the time of the drug's discovery until the year that possession of the drug became a federal crime demonstrated that much of the coverage was accepting of LSD use for the purpose of self-enrichment by individuals who were not ill. Often, intellectuals and celebrities represented drug users in magazine coverage. The use of LSD to create spiritual experiences was explained in many magazine articles, especially in Time, whose publisher, Henry Robinson Luce, advocated the drug to employees and professional acquaintances. Magazine coverage of LSD helped introduce the drug to the public and advanced public understanding of the “psychedelic” experience. The coverage, much of which preceded widespread availability of LSD, aided in the diffusion of the drug to the public at large.
Joseph Bernt (Committee Chair)
Harold Winter (Committee Member)
Gregory Newton (Committee Member)
Patrick Washburn (Committee Member)
302 p.
History; Journalism; Mass Media
LSD; Henry Robinson Luce; Clare Boothe Luce; magazine coverage; drugs; psychedelic

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Siff, S. I. (2008). Glossy Visions: Coverage of LSD in Popular Magazines, 1954-1968 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1225818399

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Siff, Stephen. Glossy Visions: Coverage of LSD in Popular Magazines, 1954-1968. 2008. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1225818399.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Siff, Stephen. "Glossy Visions: Coverage of LSD in Popular Magazines, 1954-1968." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1225818399

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1225818399