Driving Furthur into the Counterculture: Ken Kesey on and off the Bus in the 1960s

Abstract

In June 1964, a large, kaleidoscopic school bus with fourteen friends on board sailed down the highway at maximum speed while blaring music loud enough to startle people in the next town. The psychedelic ship, also known as Furthur, symbolized the free spirit attitude of the 1960s. Unfortunately, this is the image the name Ken Kesey brings to mind. The LSD-fueled, bestselling author became one of the most recognizable figures of the 1960s. Nonetheless, he was more than an outspoken advocate for psychedelic drugs. He was a performer, artist, and, more importantly, he was a devout father figure to his family. It is necessary to take each of Kesey’s roles into consideration in order to understand how he served as a crucial link between the Beat culture of the 1950s and the hippie counterculture of the 1960s.