A New York Times Book Review Podcast's 'Books We're Excited About in Early 2025' A Town &
Country Best Book to Read This April A New York Post Best Book for Spring Rosemary Woodruff
Leary has been known only as the wife of Timothy Leary the Harvard
professor-turned-psychedelic high priest whose jailbreak captivated the counterculture and
whose life on the run with Rosemary inflamed the U.S. government. But Rosemary was more than a
mere accessory. She was a beatnik a psychonaut and a true believer who tested the limits of
her mind and the expectations for women of her time. Long overlooked by those who have
venerated her husband Rosemary spent her life on the forefront of the counterculture working
with Leary on his books and speeches sewing his clothing and shaping - for better and for
worse - the media's narrative about LSD. Ultimately Rosemary sacrificed everything for the
safety of her fellow psychedelic pioneers and the preservation of her husband's legacy.
Drawing from a wealth of interviews diaries archives and unpublished sources Susannah
Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary reclaiming her narrative and
her voice from those who dismissed her. Page-turning revelatory and utterly compelling The
Acid Queen shines an overdue spotlight on a pioneering psychedelic seeker.
