The Hippie Trail
A history
by Sharif Gemie, Brian Ireland
This is the first history of the Hippie Trail. It records the joys and pains of budget travel to Kathmandu, India, Afghanistan and other 'points east' in the 1960s and 1970s. Written in a clear, simple style, it provides detailed analysis of the motivations and the experiences of hundreds of thousands of hippies who travelled eastwards. The Hippie Trail is structured around four key debates: were the travellers simply motivated by a search for drugs? Did they encounter love or sexual freedom on the road? Were they basically just tourists? Did they resemble pilgrims? The book also considers how the travellers have been represented in films, novels and autobiographical accounts. This book will appeal to those interested in the Trail or the 1960s counterculture, and students taking courses concerning the 1960s.