With the Beatles
2005
First Published
3.40
Average Rating
160
Number of Pages
It was the ultimate 1960s the ashram in Rishikesh, India, where the Beatles, Donovan, Mia Farrow, a stray Beach Boy, and other 1960s icons gathered along the shores of the Ganges-amidst paisley and incense and flowers and guitars-to meditate at the feet of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The February 1968 gathering received such frenzied, worldwide attention that it is still considered a significant, early encounter between Western pop culture and the mystical East. But what went on inside the compound has long been the subject of wild speculation and rampant rumor. The Beatles, for example, have said they wrote some of their greatest songs there . . . and yet they also came away bitterly disillusioned. While dozens of reporters from around the world flew to the remote location to camp out at the entrance of the retreat, only one journalist was allowed Lewis Lapham, now the esteemed editor of Harper's Magazine, then a reporter for The Saturday Evening Post, who was seen-along with Tom Wolfe-as one of the progenitors of the hip "New Journalism." Lapham's wry take on what he found inside the ashram won acclaim at the time, but here he includes some surprising material he's never written about before-from hysterically funny descriptions of the Maharishi's daily press conferences, to the high style demands of certain stars upon the hapless local tailor, to impromptu jam sessions and the true story behind the scandal that drove the Beatles out of Rishikesh and led to Lapham's eight-hour cab ride with Ringo Starr. In Lapham's deft and vivid prose, With the Beatles is an exhilarating and surprisingly intimate look at one of the pivotal moments of pop culture and some of its leading figures. Lewis Lapham is the editor in chief of Harper's Magazine and the author of numerous books of political and cultural commentary, including, most recently, last year's Gag Rule .
Avg Rating
3.40
Number of Ratings
67
5 STARS
15%
4 STARS
30%
3 STARS
40%
2 STARS
10%
1 STARS
4%
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Author
Lewis H. Lapham
Author · 34 books
Lewis Henry Lapham was the editor of Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and again from 1983 until 2006. He is the founder and current editor of Lapham's Quarterly, featuring a wide range of famous authors devoted to a single topic in each issue. Lapham has also written numerous books on politics and current affairs. Lapham's Quarterly http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/
