The Peyote Effect

"Alexander S. Dawson follows the history of the 'most purely intellectual' of drugs across centuries and borders and also challenges our conceptions of authenticity and cultural appropriation. He shows how the study, consumption, and spiritual meanings of peyote have been central to the constructions of indigeneity and racial difference in both Mexico and the United States. This empirically rich book will challenge readers to think critically about connections and divergences in the history of Mexico and the United States. "-Pablo Piccato, Columbia University "The Peyote Effect. is 'drug history' at its best in that it not only tells the story of a particular drug, but in doing so it makes an enormous contribution to our knowledge in other areas. The story Dawson tells-a comparative history of peyote in the United States and Mexico-is ultimately a history of modern orientalism and how Indians continue to play a primary role in defining what being 'American' or 'Mexican' cannot be. This is in many ways a quite brilliant book. "-Isaac Peter Campos, author of Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico's War on Drugs.