The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a nonfiction book by
Tom Wolfe that was published in 1968. The book is remembered today as an early – and arguably the most popular – example of the growing literary style called
New Journalism. Wolfe presents an as-if-firsthand account of the experiences of
Ken Kesey and his band of
Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the country in a colorfully painted school bus named "
Further". Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of
LSD and other
psychedelic drugs in hopes of achieving
intersubjectivity. The book chronicles the
Acid Tests (parties in which LSD-laced
Kool-Aid was used to obtain a communal trip), the group's encounters with (in)famous figures of the time, including famous authors,
Hells Angels, and
The Grateful Dead, and it also describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.