The Castaneda Con with Ru Marshall

About this episode

This episode explores the life of Carlos Castaneda and the revelations in Ru Marshall's biography, American Trickster.

Is it anthropology or a high-stakes hoax? In this episode of the Varn Vlog, we dive deep into the enigmatic life of Carlos Castaneda with author and visual artist Ru Marshall. Marshall’s expansive new biography, American Trickster (OR Books), unearths the startling reality behind the man who convinced the world he was apprenticed to a Yaqui sorcerer named Don Juan. We explore how Castaneda transitioned from a UCLA PhD candidate to a global counterculture icon, selling tens of millions of book...

People in this episode

Host: C. Derick Varn

Guest: Ru Marshall

Topics covered

• anthropology
• hoax
• biography
• counterculture
• Carlos Castaneda

Keywords

• Carlos Castaneda
• Ru Marshall
• American Trickster
• Yaqui sorcerer
• UCLA
• counterculture
• biography

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UCLA

Books & works: American Trickster

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