"This is the classical study of the background of the Mexican and American Indian ritual based on the plant that produces profound but temporary sensory and psy

For half a century, readers on peyotism have devoured La Barre's fascinating original study, which began when the author, at age twenty-four, studied the rites

Describes the peyote plant, the birth of peyotism in western Oklahoma, its spread from Indian Territory to Mexico, the High Plains, and the Far West, its role a

Peyote has never been a drug for thrill seekers. The small, hard cactus is difficult to obtain. It tastes vile, ingestion normally leads to painful vomiting, an

Despite challenges by the federal government to restrict the use of peyote, the Native American Church, which uses the hallucinogenic cactus as a religious sacr