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Episode #10: The History of Cocaine, a Long Career, and Some Great Stories, with Paul Gootenberg
My latest podcast is with Paul Gootenberg, one of the towering figures in drug history. Paul just retired from his longtime position as the SUNY Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology at Stony Brook University, and I was there in November to both fete and roast him at a symposium in his honor. It’s a very fun conversation. There are lots of great stories about 1960s radicals and the drug culture of that time, hitchhiking across America, a showdown with Studs Terkel, getting arrested in Reno, becoming a Rhodes Scholar while claiming “gardening” as his qualifying sport, and, of course, Paul’s drug scholarship.
As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
Episode Outline
0:00-6:42: Introduction.
6:42-10:06: Banter, Studs Terkel story.
10:06-15:02: Poor performance in high school, taking some gap years, Boston University, figuring out that professors were legitimate intellectuals.
15:02-26:55: Smoking pot in the ‘60s, growing up in Maryland, the “Boone’s Farm” phase in America, hippie high-schoolers, drugs as symbolic during the ‘60s.
26:55-39:52: Getting serious about school, the University of Chicago, John Coatsworth, hitchhiking across America, Haight-Ashbury, getting arrested in Reno.
39:52-52:14: Back at the University of Chicago, getting interested in history, John Coatsworth, Friedrich Katz, Bentley Duncan, Ralph Austen, Peter Novick, and deciding to go to graduate school.
52:14-1:09:15: Becoming a Rhodes Scholar, David Walker, studying at Oxford, Rosemary Thorp, getting interested in Peru and economic history.
1:09:15-1:22:32: Taking a train to Mexico for language school, flying to Peru, becoming a Peruvianist, the influence of Rosemary Thorp, the dissertation, the Institute for Advanced Study, Clifford Geertz and some postmodernists, first job at Brandeis.
1:22:32-1:32:18: Getting into studying drugs in the mid-90s, big questions of cannabis history, cocaine archival research, Cocaine: Global Histories, Andean Cocaine, The Origins of Cocaine, challenging the standard theory of cocaine cultivation.
1:32:18-1:35:17: The Alcohol and Drugs History Society and the booming field of drug history.
1:35:17-end: Outro.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com
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By Isaac CamposMy latest podcast is with Paul Gootenberg, one of the towering figures in drug history. Paul just retired from his longtime position as the SUNY Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology at Stony Brook University, and I was there in November to both fete and roast him at a symposium in his honor. It’s a very fun conversation. There are lots of great stories about 1960s radicals and the drug culture of that time, hitchhiking across America, a showdown with Studs Terkel, getting arrested in Reno, becoming a Rhodes Scholar while claiming “gardening” as his qualifying sport, and, of course, Paul’s drug scholarship.
As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
Episode Outline
0:00-6:42: Introduction.
6:42-10:06: Banter, Studs Terkel story.
10:06-15:02: Poor performance in high school, taking some gap years, Boston University, figuring out that professors were legitimate intellectuals.
15:02-26:55: Smoking pot in the ‘60s, growing up in Maryland, the “Boone’s Farm” phase in America, hippie high-schoolers, drugs as symbolic during the ‘60s.
26:55-39:52: Getting serious about school, the University of Chicago, John Coatsworth, hitchhiking across America, Haight-Ashbury, getting arrested in Reno.
39:52-52:14: Back at the University of Chicago, getting interested in history, John Coatsworth, Friedrich Katz, Bentley Duncan, Ralph Austen, Peter Novick, and deciding to go to graduate school.
52:14-1:09:15: Becoming a Rhodes Scholar, David Walker, studying at Oxford, Rosemary Thorp, getting interested in Peru and economic history.
1:09:15-1:22:32: Taking a train to Mexico for language school, flying to Peru, becoming a Peruvianist, the influence of Rosemary Thorp, the dissertation, the Institute for Advanced Study, Clifford Geertz and some postmodernists, first job at Brandeis.
1:22:32-1:32:18: Getting into studying drugs in the mid-90s, big questions of cannabis history, cocaine archival research, Cocaine: Global Histories, Andean Cocaine, The Origins of Cocaine, challenging the standard theory of cocaine cultivation.
1:32:18-1:35:17: The Alcohol and Drugs History Society and the booming field of drug history.
1:35:17-end: Outro.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com