Tripped cover art

Tripped

Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age

Preview

Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Tripped

Written by: Norman Ohler
Narrated by: Joel Richards
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $32.62

Buy Now for $32.62

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

“A fleet-footed and propulsive account . . . Brilliantly sifting a massive history for its ideological through lines, this is a must-read."" Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The author of the New York Times bestseller Blitzed returns with a provocative new history of drugs and postwar America, examining the untold story of how Nazi experiments into psychedelics covertly influenced CIA research and secretly shaped the War on Drugs.

Berlin 1945. Following the fall of the Third Reich, drug use—long kept under control by the Nazis’ strict anti-drug laws—is rampant throughout the city. Split into four sectors, Berlin's drug policies are being enforced under the individual jurisdictions of each allied power—the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and the US. In the American zone, Arthur J. Giuliani of the nascent Federal Bureau of Narcotics is tasked with learning about the Nazis’ anti-drug laws and bringing home anything that might prove “useful” to the United States.

Five years later, Harvard professor Dr. Henry Beecher began work with the US government to uncover the research behind the Nazis psychedelics program. Begun as an attempt to find a “truth serum” and experiment with mind control, the Nazi study initially involved mescaline, but quickly expanded to include LSD. Originally created for medical purposes by Swiss pharmaceutical Sandoz, the Nazis coopted the drug for their mind control military research—research that, following the war, the US was desperate to acquire. This research birthed MKUltra, the CIA's notorious brainwashing and psychological torture program during the 1950s and 1960s, and ultimately shaped US drug policy regarding psychedelics for over half a century.

Based on extensive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic, Tripped is a wild, unconventional postwar history, a spiritual sequel to Norman Ohler’s New York Times bestseller Blitzed. Revealing the close relationship and hidden connections between the Nazis and the early days of drugs in America, Ohler shares how this secret history held back therapeutic research of psychedelic drugs for decades and eventually became part of the foundation of America’s War on Drugs.

©2024 Norman Ohler (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
Freedom & Security United States War Espionage Military
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Tripped

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The significance that LSD Has had on the war on drugs, and the current societal stigmas surrounding it.

While the book mostly focusses on topics surrounding research, the author is able to describe and summarize in an engaging manner, the issue issue of psychedelics and why they were demonized, in the war on drugs.

I’m confident that anybody who would read this book and take its words to heart could be more open to the idea of a spiritual awakening through psychedelics, which has so profoundly transformed many of our lives.

While the book is entirely based on research data, declassified government documents, and other concrete facts, the author has a way to turn this story into a journey with intensely personal implications.

A beautiful masterpiece, which has the capability to change the world.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

LSD: origin, history and possible future.

I liked the insights into the origins of LSD and the history associated with it. The narration was good and the duration wasn’t not too long. Ohler gets to the point and presents good material. I found the title to be time well spent and a good addition to my audible collection.

Dislikes? None really. The brevity of the title may be a bug for some, but I found it to be more of a feature as it kept things moving and me as a listener interested in the material.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!