"Sarah Hill is to be congratulated for her detailed exploration of the complex--and often turbulent--cultural history of San Francisco during the 1960s. She assesses and analyses the emergent counterculture's re-workings of music, art, theatre, sexuality and politics.the book is replete with information and insights that illuminate the events of the decade itself, and their continuing significance." -- Ian Inglis, Visiting Fellow, Northumbria University, UK "Sarah Hill's new book offers a delightful panorama of countercultural San Francisco in the 1960s, studded with evocative quotes from historical and contemporary interviews with many of the principal players on the scene, and giving a special place to the musical achievements of many of the classic San Francisco bands. Her articulation of the 'long 60s,' reaching up to the present day, will resonate with countless fans, young and old, of that vibrant and precious time." -- Graeme M. Boone, Professor of Music, The Ohio State University, USA "In this book Sarah Hill delivers a masterful study of a place often written about, and frequently iconized, as a heartland of the 1960s counter-culture but never portrayed with the level of micro-social detail offered here. In her accounts of the ordinary people whose lives both shaped and were shaped by the counter-culture, Hill enriches our understanding of how cultural memory is becoming increasingly central in the way that generations collectively appropriate and inscribe meaning in the objects, images and texts of contemporary popular culture.

" -- Andy Bennett, Professor of Cultural Sociology and Director of the Griffith Centre for Cultural Research, Griffith University, Australia "It is a delight to see the musical tale go beyond the familiar rock bands to incorporate the work at the city's 'Tape Centre' and of Terry Riley, Steve Reich and John Adams.With an exhaustive bibliography, this is a fine book which first complements and then goes beyond earlier works by Selvin (1995), Perry (1984) and others. I was well disposed to the title before I opened the book, and I was not at all disappointed. It is very well written, and whether you know this period or not, its comprehensiveness and its sense of legacy make it highly relevant today." - Perfect Beat.