This is the first history of the hippy trail. Based on interviews and self-published works, it records the joys and pains of budget travel out to Kathmandu, India, Afghanistan and other points east during the 1960s and 1970s.

Written in a clear, simple style, the book provides a detailed analysis of the motivations and the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of young people who travelled eastwards. The happiness and calm that many found is noted, but the work also has a critical edge, exploring the limitations of the travellers' journeys and the mistakes they made, and discussing the rapidly changing meanings and connotations of the term 'hippy', while setting these themes in the context of 1960s counter-culture.

The hippy trail: A history, 1957-78 is structured around four key debates: were the travellers simply motivated by a search for drugs? Did they encounter love or sexual freedom on the road? Were they basically just tourists? Did they resemble pilgrims? A final fifth chapter considers how the travellers have been represented in films, novels and autobiographical accounts.

Anyone with a personal connection to the trail, or an interest in the counter-cultures of the 1960s and 1970s will find this book indispensable.