Magic Bus (English)

Rory MacLean's examination of the legacy of the Hippie Trail, a winding road between Istanbul and India that became a hugely popular trek for peace freaks and beatniks in the 1960s, may reveal a long-neglected cause of certain strains of Mid-Eastern terrorism. According to MacLean, for more than a decade, a steady stream of drug users, pseudo-mystics, and karma cadets wandered through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, leaving a swirling trail of incense, pot smoke, and folk music in their wake. With ambassadors like these, the resultant rise of anti-Western sentiments in the area is no great shock, MacLean muses. More seriously, his riveting account of the unbelievable transformation of this trail, which has gone from a liberation parade to a lethal gauntlet in the last 30 years, evokes our deepest feelings of remorse. As the current citizens of these decimated areas lament their losses, the highs and hopes of the hippies' optimistic ghosts begin to shrink and shiver, before disintegrating amidst the dust and wind. minimize