Talk:Jay Stevens
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Removed link from body of article as it goes to Rosencomet commercial cite.
Timmy1219:41, 28 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I am NOT warring on this article, or any other. However, why is there a "citation needed" tag on a book that the subject co-authored, when the book is right there in the bibliography? It's published by a major press, ISBN numbers are supplied, and the authors are listed right there. What other "fact" is needed?Rosencomet (talk)13:49, 12 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
His network of close friends on social media (Mickey Hart, Robert Forte, etc.) report that Stevens died on February 19, 2025, in Vermont of a heart attack. Forte reports that Stevens' wife reported his death online or to his friends. Still waiting on RS to add it to the article. Forte reports that Stevens was about to travel to Greece to visit with him and finish a screenplay about Leary.Viriditas (talk)22:23, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
In progress
Done Done
?? In progress In progress In progress??Criticism: Without mentioning names, this space (history of psychedelics) has been infiltrated by fringe alternative medicine,conspirituality, the alt-right, and the tech broligarchs since the late 1990s. Stevens was said to be well ahead of his time by predicting the rise of ketamine as a recreational drug.Viriditas (talk)22:45, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I removed this category. Stevens' overarching thesis communicated in articles, books, and interviews, isn't to "advocate" for drugs of any kind, but forcognitive liberty. This has more to do with upholding Vermont values of individualism than it has to do with drugs. Anyone who has readStorming Heaven knows it isn't a hagiography, but rather quite the opposite.Viriditas (talk)21:39, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Many of the sources list him as a "social historian", and in at least one interview, Stevens refers to himself as a cultural historian. But I'm not entirely comfortable with these categories for several reasons. One, it is not clear if Stevens was a member of any professional society, finished a degree in history, completed university, or was in discussion with other historians. Two, I am far more comfortable with the idea that he was an independent scholar. To argue against myself, it does look like Stevens performed original historical research forStorming Heaven, and this research process is detailed at the end of the book. Does this make him a social/cultural historian? I don't know the answer, so I'm hoping others can chime in. To my mind, Stevens was living an archetypal American life like aFounding Father ("While the Founding Fathers were engaged in a broad range of occupations, most had careers in three professions: about half the founders were lawyers, a sixth were planters/farmers, another sixth were merchants/businessmen, and the others were spread across miscellaneous professions.") He was a maple farmer, and came from a long line of farmers going back to the 18th century, but he was also someone who wrote about the cultural history of the United States.Viriditas (talk)21:53, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
