Orange Sunshine: How I Almost Survived America's Cultural Revolution - PDF Instant Download!

By Marc DuQuette

In the heart of the turbulent Sixties, when his life and his country exploded in chaos and mad idealism, Marc DuQuette, outlaw biker and hippie commune leader joins the Revolution in an attempt to answer the questions deep within his restless soul.

This is the story of a man and an era - a crack in time in the history of American culture - a war baby's roller coaster ride of hot rods, guns, dope, revolution and redemption. It's action-packed and heartbreakingly hilarious. Playing against the beat of primitive R & B and the birth of rock and roll, Marc morphs from teenaged soldier to outlaw biker, to peace activist, to hippie leader and then to commune organizer.

Between shoot-outs with vigilantes, he immerses himself in psychedelics, yoga, and Eastern Philosophy. All this prepares him in a twisted way for his most colorful and self-destructive life as a political revolutionary, his involvement with the notorious Cuban-based Venceremos Brigade (a revolutionary group violently opposed by anti-Castro agents) and finally, with the Maoist October League/Communist Party Marxist-Leninist. After expulsion from the Party for drunkenness, a wild, downward spiral of alcohol, drugs, guns, and jail propels him to his bottom - a place where there was nowhere else to go but up.

ABOUT MARC

Marc DuQuette was born in 1942 in Long Beach, California where he and his younger brother, author Lon Milo DuQuette were raised until they moved to Nebraska. Marc graduated from Columbus High School in Columbus, Nebraska in 1960. He served in U.S. Army Infantry, Army Reserve, and Nebraska National Guard and received an Honorable Discharge in December 1967.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, he pushed life to the limits as an alcoholic outlaw biker in Costa Mesa, California, an acid-dropping, commune living hippie, and a communist political radical.

For most of 1968 he lived in the woods of Southern Oregon and subsequently became involved in various radical groups such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Cuban based Venceremos Brigade, and the Maoist October League/Communist Party Marxist-Leninist, from which he was ultimately expelled for being drunk at an International Womens Day rally in San Francisco. In order to make a living to support his “lifestyle” he worked at various factory jobs and pretended to organize the workers.

​In 1979 and 1980, Marc picked up two DUIs and refused to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings at the court’s request. As a result, he was sentenced to Orange County Main Jail.

On December 19, 1981 Marc hit rock bottom. He had a spiritual experience and called the Central Office of a Twelve Step Program. He attended his first meeting over 27 years ago and started working the Twelve Steps. He has maintained continuous sobriety and still attends meetings and works the steps to this day.

After becoming sober, Marc dedicated his life to helping others overcome their addictions. In 1983, he started volunteering five hours a week at the Orange County Health Care Agency – Alcoholism Services, and ultimately quit his factory job (and pretense of organizing workers) to take a two year Certification Program at the University of California, Irvine. He completed a supervised internship at the Orange Country Health Care Agency: Alcoholism, Mental Health and Drug Abuse. He worked detox and recovery - medical model and social model - and facilitated groups as well as supervised felony drug diversion programs.

Marc  worked with alcoholics/addicts and codependents, worldwide for over 25 years, who also had to actively attend and participate in the twelve-step programs "appropriate to their needs." His warmth, compassion, humor and profound non-judgmental "listening" were  what made Marc so beloved to his many worldwide clients.   He continued this noble work all the way to the end of his earthly journey, leaving us all on March 22, 2015.  

Thankfully, Marc lives on through his book ORANGE SUNSHINE: How I Almost Survived America’s Cultural Revolution, were Marc chronicled his experiences through the turbulent sixties, through his addictions and brushes with the law, and ultimately to his spiritual awakening and sense of purpose.