Lecturer Peter Richardson Explores Why the Grateful Dead Live On and Thrive

PALO ALTO DAILY NEWS -- Peter Richardson, who coordinates the American Studies program at San Francisco State, has written “No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead.” He tells The Daily News, “Why the durable success? I trace it back to their underlying values. Their music changed over time. Their organization changed over time. A lot of things changed. But their underlying values were remarkably stable.” Richardson’s book views the indomitable band from a different perspective than the many other tomes on the Dead. He was teaching related material in his classes, which focus on utopian and dystopian aspects of California culture. So he began going to the Grateful Dead scholars’ caucuses. His interest piqued, Richardson read everything he could on the subject of the Dead.