Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous But Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence

Kelly, who runs a TikTok account under the same name, debuts with a nonstop, eye-popping panorama of famous and influential individuals who each changed the world, or their perception of it, through their use of drugs. Some used them for pain relief, like George Washington, who took a spoonful of opium every night to ease the ache of his ill-fitting wooden teeth; others for a mix of pain and pleasure, among them Queen Victoria, who championed chloroform to relieve the pain of childbirth and loved a cocaine-laced wine called Vin Mariani so much that she once submitted an anonymous review to a newspaper. (The author goes on to tag her as “the most notorious drug kingpin of all time” for her role in Britain’s opium-peddling in China.) Other political figures making big decisions while under the influence range from Pharaoh Ramses II, who was entombed with a jar of cannabis, to Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who was unwittingly dosed with LSD by the CIA while at Harvard, and a trigger-happy Richard Nixon (“Whenever he got intoxicated, his go-to move was to order a nuclear strike ”). Besides serving up a multitude of entertaining stories, Kelly provides genuine food for thought about the medical and spiritual applications of psychedelics. Brimming with enthusiasm for history’s nooks and crannies, this charms. (July)