Prime Green

Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties chronicles Robert Stone's global wanderings from 1958 to 1972, beginning with his time as a navy journalist and ending with his work as a correspondent in Vietnam. The memoir moves through multiple locations including South Africa, New Orleans, England, and New York. At the center of the narrative is Stone's connection with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, documenting their cross-country bus journey to the 1964 World's Fair. The book captures key moments in Stone's development as a writer, including experiences that led to his novels A Hall of Mirrors and Dog Soldiers. This memoir serves as both a personal history and a document of cultural transformation during the 1960s, preserving the language and spirit of an era while examining it through the lens of time.

Readers found Stone's memoir of the 1960s to be fragmented and episodic, focusing more on his personal experiences than providing a comprehensive view of the era. Positives: - Vivid descriptions of key cultural moments and locations - Strong writing about drug culture and countercultural figures - Intimate glimpses of literary figures like Ken Kesey - Raw honesty about personal struggles Negatives: - Lacks cohesive narrative structure - Too much focus on drug experiences - Missing context about major historical events - Some readers found the tone detached and unemotional Review Scores: Goodreads: 3.7/5 (300+ ratings) Amazon: 3.8/5 (50+ reviews) Several readers noted the book works better as a collection of memories than a traditional memoir. One Amazon reviewer wrote: "Stone captures specific moments brilliantly but fails to connect them into a larger story." Goodreads reviewers frequently mentioned wanting more insight into how these experiences shaped Stone's later writing career.

Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe The definitive chronicle of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters covers much of the same territory as Prime Green, offering parallel perspectives on this pivotal cultural moment.

Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson Thompson's immersive reportage of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang captures the same era of California counterculture that Stone experienced firsthand.

Dispatches by Michael Herr Herr's Vietnam War memoir shares Stone's journalist perspective on the conflict and its impact on American consciousness during the 1960s.

Just Kids by Patti Smith Smith's memoir of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s documents the artistic and cultural transformations that Stone witnessed during his time in the city.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac Kerouac's semi-autobiographical novel established the template for the American road narrative that Stone later lived through with Kesey and his followers.

🌟 Stone's friendship with Ken Kesey began during a Stanford writing program where they were both Wallace Stegner Fellows. 🌟 The book's title "Prime Green" refers to the distinctive color Stone saw during dawn watches while serving in the U.S. Navy. 🌟 Before writing this memoir, Stone won the National Book Award for his 1974 novel "Dog Soldiers," which was inspired by his Vietnam experiences. 🌟 The author participated in one of the first legal LSD experiments at Stanford University in 1961, before the substance was banned. 🌟 Stone was a staff writer for an influential underground newspaper in New York called the East Village Other, which helped pioneer the alternative press movement.