Overview

'The definitive story' Q Magazine 'I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough' Irvine Welsh From its first publication in 1997, Altered State established itself as the definitive text on Ecstasy and dance culture. This new edition, reissued as part of White Rabbit's prestigious Deep Cuts series, sees Matthew Collin take a thrilling trip through the acid house Summer of Love and the rave scene's euphoric escalation as MDMA became a mass-market narcotic. Using a cast of memorable characters to track the origins of the scene and its signature drug through psychedelic subcults, underground gay discos and the Balearic paradise of Ibiza, Collin provides an anatomy of not only its ideologies and myths but also the criminal underside to the blissed-out image. Altered State illuminates the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the twentieth century and its enduring impact on music, politics and popular culture. 'For anyone who's ever lost themselves on some dark, dry ice-filled dancefloor . . . it's a book that conveys the very essence itself' Bethan Cole, i-D Magazine 'Anyone who has played a small part in this unfolding story will want to read this book because it explains what they have lived through' Geoff Dyer, Independent 'A fascinating history . . . Altered State keeps politics in the foreground even as it tells picaresque stories of rave promoters with suitcases of cash' Hari Kunzru, London Review of Books

Full Product Details

9781399638517

Table of Contents

Reviews

At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough -- IRVINE WELSH Not just timely; it was crying out to be written * INDEPENDENT * Remains the definitive story of the [1990s] love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25 * Q * The first book to forensically document the acid house explosion . . . It's written with the authority of the first-hander, but what makes the book so compelling is his political perspective -- BILL BREWSTER and FRANK BROUGHTON * MIXMAG *

Author Information

Matthew Collin has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse. He is the author of The Time of the Rebels, This Is Serbia Calling and Altered State and is a former editor of the Big Issue, the Time Out website and i-D magazine

Tab Content 6

Countries Available