Ken Kesey at Top Ten Books

Ken Kesey (1935-2001)

Ken Elton Kesey was born to a family of Oregon dairy farmers on September 17, 1935. Active in sports and fraternities at the University of Oregon, he won the Fred Lowe sScholarship awarded to outstanding wrestlers. A year after marrying his high school sweetheart, Norma Faye Haxby, Ken Kesey graduated from the university in 1957. Mr. Kesey moved to Palo Alto, California after he was awarded a scholarship to Stanford University's graduate writing program. It was here that his normal, middle class upbringing took an unexpected road. He became a visionary, shaman, criminal, prankster and a bridge from the beat generation to the hippy culture of the 1960s.

In Palo Alto, Ken Kesey met a graduate psychology student who was participating in L.S.D. experiments at a veterans hospital. These L.S.D. experiments were sponsored by the C.I.A. and the U.S. Army. Mr. Kesey was probably first attracted by the $75 per session that the volunteer subjects were paid. Ken Kesey afterward brought this new found experience into the public realm at the fabled acid tests in and around La Honda, California. The acid tests were big parties with strobe lights, music and participants drinking L.S.D. laced Kool-Aid. These parties, along with other experimentation in New York by Harvard University professor Timothy Leary, were the starting point of a cultural revolution. Psychedelic art, drug experimentation, 1960's intellectualism as well as music by acid rock groups such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane had roots in the Kesey acid tests. Mr. Kesey's acid tests were for everyman while Dr. Leary's experiments attracted a more intellectual crowd.

In 1964, Ken Kesey took his famous transcontinental bus trip. He brought with him an experienced driver and cross country traveler, Neal Cassidy. Neil Cassidy was perhaps better known as the Dean Moriarity character from Jack Kerouac's book "On the Road". Mr. Kesey was also accompanied by the "Merry Pranksters", an entourage of like minded friends; proto-hippies who shared a commune in La Honda. Their means of conveyance was a Day-Glo 1939 International Harvester bus christened "Furthur". "Furthur" was wired for light and sound.

Tom Wolfe documented these activities in his book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". The purpose for the Merry Prankster cross country adventure was to visit the New York World's Fair, but did include a side trip to the Hudson Valley where Dr. Leary was with his group. Apparently Dr. Leary didn't feel that this rabble from the west coast were deserving of his enlightenment and made himself unavailable to the travelers.

While in California, Ken Kesey found time to pen two novels. His first published novel in 1962 was entitled "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Mr. Kesey wrote the book while working as a night attendant in a hospital psychiatric ward. He told the story of the conflict ridden relationship between Randall McMurphy, a convict/con man who thought that serving time would be easier in a psychiatric hospital, and Miss Ratched, a by-the-book, no nonsense nurse. It was a huge success, but the novel may have over shadowed his later works. Kirk Douglas bought the stage and screen rights to the book and starred on Broadway in the title role, Randall McMurphy. The play was revived in 1970 with William Devane in the title role. In 2001, the play was again performed with Gary Sinise playing Randall. In 1975, a movie was released with Jack Nicholson playing the starring role. The film was extremely successful with Nicholson winning an Oscar for Best Actor, Milos Foreman for Best Director, a Best Actress award for Louise Fletcher and best screen adaptation for Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. Ken Kesey was unhappy with the production and disapproved of the script. He sued the producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz, later agreeing to a settlement. Mr. Kesey refused to ever watch the movie. Ken Kesey's second novel, "Sometimes a Great Notion", was also made into a movie starring Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Lee Remick. Neither the book or the movie, which was later renamed "Never Give an Inch", was as great a success as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Ken Kesey settled down in Pleasant Valley, Oregon with his wife and children to farm and write. Mr. Kesey coached local wrestling teams and taught a graduate writing course at the University of Oregon.

Ken Kesey on DVD

Magic Trip -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$0.99 Our Price:$0.99

Wild Wheels -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$1.99 Our Price:$1.99

Grateful Dead: The Closing Of Winterland -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price: Our Price:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$0.99 Our Price:$0.99

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search For A Kool Place -Ken Kesey - - Factory sealed DVD In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$9.49 Our Price:$9.49

Sometimes a Great Notion -Ken Kesey - - Shrink-wrapped In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$19.98 Our Price:$16.90

The Net -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price: Our Price:

Sometimes a Great Notion -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price: Our Price:

Last Straw -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price: Our Price:

Go Further -Ken Kesey - In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price: Our Price:

Ken Kesey

Sometimes a Great Notion -Ken Kesey - - Penguin Books The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sailor Song is a wild-spirited and hugely powerful tale of an Oregon logging clan. A bitter strike is raging in a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers: Henry, the fiercely vital and overpowering patriarch; Hank, the son who has spent his life trying to live up to his father; and Viv, who fell in love with Hank's exuberant machismo but now finds it wearing thin. And then there is Leland, Henry's bookish younger son, who returns to his family on a mission of vengeance - and finds himself fulfilling it in ways he never imagined. Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals, Ken Kesey crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$13.66

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test -Tom Wolfe - - Picador USA Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ushered in an era of New Journalism, "An American classic" (Newsweek) that defined a generation. "An astonishing book" (The New York Times Book Review) and an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the 1960s. List Price:$20.00 Our Price:$10.88

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -Ken Kesey - - Great product! An international bestseller and the basis for the hugely successful film, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the defining works of the 1960s. In this classic novel, Ken Kesey’s hero is Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the world of a mental hospital and takes over. A lusty, life-affirming fighter, McMurphy rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women, and openly defies the rules at every turn. But this defiance, which starts as a sport, soon develops into a grim struggle, an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Nurse Ratched, backed by the full power of authority, and McMurphy, who has only his own indomitable will. What happens when Nurse Ratched uses her ultimate weapon against McMurphy provides the story’s shocking climax. “BRILLIANT!”—Time “A SMASHING ACHIEVEMENT...A TRULY ORIGINAL NOVEL!”—Mark Schorer “Mr. Kesey has created a world that is convincing, alive and glowing within its own boundaries...His is a large, robust talent, and he has written a large, robust book.”—Saturday Review List Price:$9.99 Our Price:$9.18

Last Go Round: A Real Western -ARRAY(0x237d930) - It was around a sagebrush campfire in eastern Oregon that Kesey first heard the tale from his father - about the legendary "last go round" that took place at the original Pendleton Round Up in 1911. Hundreds of riders were competing for the first World Championship Broncbusting title, but it was one special trio of buckeroos that provided the drama: a popular black cowboy, George Fletcher; a Nez Perce Indian cowboy, Jackson Sundown; and a fresh-faced kid from Tennessee name of Johnathan E. Lee Spain. Who would walk away with the prize money and the silver-studded saddle? When the dust cleared, everyone knew they'd witnessed something extraordinary. Kesey has journeyed back into Oregon history to reclaim this long-remembered moment, beefed up the bare bones of fact, and whipped them into a full-blown rip-snorting Tale of the True West. Sixteen pages of rare Round Up photographs provide graphic testimony of the time. The tiny town of Pendleton is swollen to bursting that memorable weekend and bristling with colorful characters like Buffalo Bill Cody, wrestler Frank "The Cruel Crusher" Gotch, cowgirl Prairie Rose Henderson, and a formidable medicine man named Parson Montanic. From the teepees along the river to the teeming saloons on Main Street, Round Up fever blazes like a prairie fire. This story of love, sweat, and horseflesh is a unique Western, wild and wooly and full of fleas. Let 'er buck! List Price:$17.00 Our Price:$13.58

Conversations with Ken Kesey (Literary Conversations Series) - - Ken Kesey (1935-2001) is the author of several works of wellknown fiction and other hardtoclassify material. His debut novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was a critical and commercial sensation that was followed soon after by his most substantial and ambitious book, Sometimes a Great Notion. His other books, including Demon Box, Sailor Song, and two children's books, appeared amidst a life of astounding influence. He is maybe best known for his role as the charismatic and protohippie leader of the West Coast LSD movement that sparked "The Sixties," as iconically recounted in Tom Wolfe's The Electric KoolAid Acid Test. In the introduction to "An Impolite Interview with Ken Kesey," Paul Krassner writes, "For a man who says he doesn't like to do interviews, Kesey certainly does a lot of them." What's most surprising about this statement is not the incongruity between disliking and doing interviews but the idea that Kesey could possibly have been less than enthusiastic about being the center of attention. After his two great triumphs, writing played a lesser role in Kesey's life, but in thoughtful interviews he sometimes regrets the books that were sacrificed for the sake of his other pursuits. Interviews trace his arc through success, fame, prison, farming, and tragedy--the death of his son in a car accident profoundly altered his life. These conversations make clear Kesey's central place in American culture and offer his enduring lesson that the freedom exists to create lives as wildly as can be imagined. List Price: Our Price:

Sailor Song -Ken Kesey - This epic tale of the north is a vibrant moral fable for our time. Set in the near future in the fishing village of Kuinak, Alaska, a remnant outpost of the American frontier not yet completely overcome by environmental havoc and mad-dog development, Sailor Song is a wild, rollicking novel, a dark and cosmic romp. The town and its denizens—colorful refugees from the Lower Forty-Eight and DEAPs (Descendants of Early Aboriginal Peoples)—are seduced and besieged by a Hollywood crew, come to film the classic children's book The Sea Lion. The ensuing turf war escalates into a struggle for the soul of the town as the novel spins and swirls toward a harrowing climax. Writing with a spectacular range of language and style, Kesey has given us a unique and powerful novel about America. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$18.00

On the Road -Jack Kerouac - - Penguin Books The classic novel of freedom and the search for authenticity that defined a generation September 5th, 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of On the Road Inspired by Jack Kerouac's adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naiveté and wild ambition and imbued with Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up.    List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$10.88

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell -Aldous Huxley - - The Doors of Perception Heaven and Hell Among the most profound and influential explorations of mind-expanding psychadelic drugs ever written, here are two complete classic books—The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell—in which Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, reveals the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. This new edition also features an additional essay, "Drugs That Shape Men's Minds," which is now included for the first time. "A genuine spiritual quest. ... Extraordinary." — New York Times List Price:$15.99 Our Price:$10.19

Demon Box -Ken Kesey - - Ken Kesey - Short stories - anthology In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$14.40

Spit in the Ocean, No. 7: All About Ken Kesey - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$15.00 Our Price:$15.00

Ken Kesey

Sometimes a Great Notion - - - Penguin Books Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$13.66

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - - - Picador USA Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$20.00 Our Price:$10.88

Magic Trip - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$0.99 Our Price:$0.99

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - - - Great product! Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$9.99 Our Price:$9.18

Last Go Round: A Real Western - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$17.00 Our Price:$13.58

Sailor Song - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$18.00

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price: Our Price:

Conversations with Ken Kesey (Literary Conversations Series) - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price: Our Price:

On the Road - - - Penguin Books Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$18.00 Our Price:$10.88

Wild Wheels - - Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. List Price:$1.99 Our Price:$1.99