The Counterculture of the 1960s and the Birth of Underground Press in the United States

Abstract

The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines formed in mid-1966 by the publishers of five early underground newspapers: The East Village Other, The Los Angeles Free Press, The Berkeley Barb, The Paper, and Fifth Estate. The Syndicate was initiated by Allen Cohen, editor of the legendary 1960's edition of the San Francisco Oracle. By 1974, most underground newspapers in the United States had ceased to exist, but their influence was felt throughout the 1970s and the following years, leading to the emergence of small-town and suburban press offering a wide audience alternative views on local news, cultural news, Native American politics, ecology, youth, and anti-war movements.