The Butterfly Convention

Off white with a black and yellow butterfly, text is teal and black. Spine is Similar

0803708696

An Unforgettable Account of the Long Way Jome from a Mexican Prison and the Broken Dreams of the Sixties

First

1976

181

8.5" x6" x 1"

Good

1967 BUTTERFLY CONVENTION HASHISH SMUGGLING CALIFORNIA MEXICO PRISON psychedelic

Item specifics
Seller Notes: “for description and condition of this book see below”
Year Printed: 1976 Subject: HASHISH HASHEESH CANNABIS MARIJUANA
Binding: Hardcover Language: English
Author: SUSAN NADLER Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Dust Jacket
THE BUTTERFLY CONVENTION
By SUSAN NADLER
Published by Dial Press, New York
1976 First Edition
This book is a HARDCOVER in fine condition with183 pages. The dust jacket is in near fine condition.
First Edition of this harrowing account of an American woman caught up in the largest hashish bust in the history of Baja California, her life in a Mexican prison in the early 1970s, facing 20 years, and how she manages to get released.
FROM THE COVER == For Susan Nadler, like so many children of the sixties, the yellow brick road led to drugs, sexual liberation, radical politics, world tripping and a very grim Oz- in Susan's case, a filthy cell in a Mexican jail and a twenty-year sentence. That was the joker in the pack when she got busted for the largest hashish importation in the history of Baja California, Mexico.
The Butterfly Convention is a remarkable memoir of the high-rolling, doped-out days before and the harsh reality after being buried in jail, a long, long way from home. The moment the heavy iron door closed behind her, Susan embarked on a new life and a voyage of self-discovery. Prison brought her down to a slow pace; it gave her time to listen to herself and grope for some values and meaning. Above all, she was confronted with the direct humanity, the simple compassion and kindness of her fellow-prisoners and her captors.
The most difficult part of the process was coming to reconciliation with her parents. She realized that her previous life had been a snare and a delusion; she had only dreamed of being a butterfly, but now she found herself in the constriction of prison, a constriction that proved to be the last barrier before real freedom.
The story of her breaking out of the chrysalis of illusion and finding her difficult way home is the compelling heart of this book. The reader will find it difficult to stop following her through all the highs and lows of this experience. For those who lived through the dreams of revolution in recent years, The Butterfly Convention will bring a considerable shock of recognition. For parents who endured a form of exile from their own children, this account will help illuminate the darker memories and suggest ways of hope and return.
The real power of the book is that it tells the truth and lances every moment of self-pity with the keen edge of irony. It is also the first book by a writer of considerable promise.
Early comments on The Butterfly Convention:
"Congratulations for discovering and publishing a writer whom I believe to be truly" talented .... The author has taken an ugly devastating experience of her drug culture and fashioned it into a work of art. This is a beautifully written tale of an emerging spirit and of how a prodigal daughter returned to sanity." - Evan H. Rhodes, author of The Prince of Central Park
"The Butterfly Convention is a wonderful read. It seems infinitely more honest and direct than say Fear of Flying. It is artful, engrossing with a spectacular insistency to the narrative .... It is by far the most honest book I've ever read about dope and dope smuggling. I found touching her affection for her captors and her penetrating understanding of the gulf between parents and daughter .... Congratulations for taking a flyer on a first book." - Jim Harrison, author of Abduction and Plain Song.
Jacket design by Jack Ribik
Butterfly drawing by Margaret Walton
Psychedelics hallucinogenic hashish hippies peyote cocaine cannabis marijuana mescaline ayahuasca LSD DMT Psychedelic marihuana