The House on the Path

Description

“If I had died at 25, I would have lived 5 different lives.”

The House on the Path transports readers straight into the heart of the American counterculture, documenting the wild, chaotic, and spiritually charged years of 1964 through 1974. From the suburban sprawl of Wheaton, Illinois, to the tumultuous streets of Madison, Wisconsin, Chef William Guthrie narrates his coming of age amid a generational revolt against “the system”. Yet, amid the chaos—running from the cops, hitchhiking the country, and seeking community at massive gatherings like the Atlanta Pop festival—a profound search for meaning drove the era. This quest led the author into the orbit of the enigmatic Phoenix Academy, a philosophical society seeking to usher in a “New Age of Ethics”. Founded by his Gnostic shaman mother, JoAnnae Guthrie, the Academy and its legendary venture, the Ovens of Brittany Restaurant, attempted to synthesize high spiritual ideals with the practical demands of a rapidly transforming society.

“‘You were born to be a dragon slayer, my son,’ she would say. My pride in that thought gave me desire to slay those dragons, though it seems that I myself have created many of the dragons that I have been forced to conquer.”