Far Out Man
Tales of Life in the Counterculture
The founder of Utne Reader chronicles his adventures on the frontlines of American culture—from the Vietnam era to the age of Trump—as a spiritual seeker, antiwar activist, and minor media celebrity.
“Fascinating . . . a remarkable piece of social history.”—Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
Far Out Man is the story of a life-long seeker who was occasionally a finder as well. In 1984, Eric Utne founded Utne Reader, a digest of new ideas and fresh perspectives percolating in the arts, culture, politics, business, and spirituality. With the tag line “The Best of the Alternative Press,” the magazine was twice a finalist for a National Magazine Award and grew to more than 300,000…
Eric Utne, founder of the eponymous Utne Reader, is a journalist, publisher, and social entrepreneur. His name has been a New York Times crossword puzzle answer more than seventy times since 1994. Prior to starting Utne Reader, Utne managed a natural foods store, studied acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and was a literary agent and small business consultant. After leaving the magazine in 2000, he became the seventh-grade class teacher in an inner-city Waldorf school. In 2006, he was elected to the executive committee of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. He is a senior fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, where he co-authored a series of courses on the social and environmental dimensions of health and…