Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: Magic Bus

Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India by Rory MacLean 2009

In the 1960s and early 1970s, hundreds of thousands of young people from North America, Australia and Europe hit the ‘Hippie Trail’, the overland route from Istanbul across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to India and Nepal. Until the route was closed by the 1979 Iranian revolution, they followed the inspiration of Jack Kerouac and the footsteps of Allen Ginsberg by ramshackle buses, public transit or hitchhiking, and with no guidebooks, ATMs, cell phones, Internet or even reliable maps. Some were looking to follow the Timothy Leary experience of self-discovery with sex, drugs and rock & roll. Others were looking for religious enlightenment, still others just for adventure or to open their minds to other cultures.

Canadian Rory MacLean retraced the Hippie Trail in 2004, searching for the stopping points where the travelers met up for mail, visas and news of the road. On his travels he meets one of the original Flower Children recreating her journey from 40 years ago, finds traces of the Beatles’ stay in Rishikesh, and meets travelers who stayed forever, some having found their spiritual fulfillment and others who burned out on the experience. Along the way he discusses the phenomenon with local people, who reflect on their fond, and not so fond, memories of the Hippie invasion. A colourful and off-beat book of discovery.