Saul Austerlitz’s new book Just a Shot Away: Peace, Love, and Tragedy With the Rolling Stones at Altamont is the story of the concert that was going to be the West Coast Woodstock, and another triumph of the 1960s counterculture. Looking at the musicians, fans, filmmakers, bikers and journalists present that day, the book – out Tuesday – places the legendarily disastrous show in the context of the political and social changes of the era. In this excerpt, Austerlitz focuses on Meredith Hunter, the 18-year-old African-American man who never returned home from the show. Gimme Shelter, the legendary documentary by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte
Zwerin, had shown moviegoers the moment of his death, but what did we know of the last day of his life?
Word spread, in late November and early December 1969, about a huge free concert set to come to the Bay Area, and 18-year-old Meredith Hunter told his sister Dixie he was thinking of attending. He had been to the Monterey Jazz Festival and enjoyed himself, and hoped for another glorious day of sunshine and good vibes and music. He did not much care about the Rolling Stones, but the idea of soaking in the love and warmth and companionship that came from hundreds of thousands of well-meaning young people gathered together was too tempting to pass up.
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