Mother American Night: My Life in Crazy Times

John Perry Barlow wrote 30 songs for the Grateful Dead--and that’s just the start to a Zelig-like life that took him from a childhood as Wyoming ranching royalty to friendships with Neal Cassady, Steve Jobs, and JFK Jr.

Mother American Night is the heartrendingly sad, hysterically funny, and often unbelievable yet always completely true story of a singular individual. Referred to by more than one publication as ＂The Most Interesting Man in the World,＂ Barlow has throughout his life maintained close relationships with such diverse cultural figures as Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, Timothy Leary, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Steve Jobs. During his long and varied career, Barlow has written the lyrics to 30 songs by the Grateful Dead while also running his family’s cattle ranch. Despite being a freely self-confessed acidhead, he served as a campaign manager for Dick Cheney during his run for Congress in 1978--the same year he hosted 18-year-old JFK Jr. at his ranch for some summer seasoning. When he was 42, Barlow became a renowned internet guru who began vigorously defending the right for all to use it freely by co-founding the Electronic Freedom Foundation in 1990.

A brilliant thinker and writer, he has over the course of the past half century somehow managed to be at the cutting edge of popular culture. And as impressive as his accomplishments have been, Barlow’s dramatic personal life reads like the story of a generation writ large. Blessed with an incredible sense of humor and a unique voice that comes right off the page, Barlow is a born storyteller in the tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rogers.