Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303745 in Books
• Published on: 1985-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

political science students only
Having read just about the entire output of HST I can honestly say I'd rather gargle with pins than read this again.It all started off fine but soon dives off a cliff into a sea of political intrigue that I frankly found pretty dull in comparison to the rest of his works.OK so theres a few respites here and there but not enough to make it the classic people claim it to be.If you have a good understanding and interest in the American political system then it may appeal to you,if however you read this hoping for more gonzo type journalism then you'll probably be disappointed.

A Raw and Hilarious Account of U.S. Politics
'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72' is a fantastic journey through a spectacle which grips the U.S. every four years. It is a journey which in the hands of other authors would be thoroughly boring. But Hunter S. Thompson (HST) succeeds in combining great intelligence and insightful commentary with shocking hilarity and the result is a great book.

'Campaign Trail '72' doesn't have the same constant flow of wacky, laugh-out-loud humour and outrageous anecdotes as some of HST's other works, but then HST wrote this book as part of a year-long assignment to cover the Presidential campaign, not a week-long bender at the Kentucky Derby. In some respects, the length of time over which Thompson was reporting helps reveal a more 'everyday' side to an author who at other times appears to lead a wholly surreal lifestyle. Even the Doctor of Gonzo has down-time and boring days.

HST undoubtedly achieves what he set out to do in December '71. He gives his readers an insider's account of what it's like to cover a Presidential campaign. He reveals some of the underhand and downright corrupt tactics of the candidates and their entourages, the fickle nature of the electorate's support, the decisive role of the media in an election, and the importance of 'perception'. Thompson reports in a way that no one else is capable of reporting. He goes with gut instinct and from page 1 refuses to write from within the journalistic confines of objectivity. He openly supports Democratic candidate George McGovern, and sees Richard Nixon as a great threat to the U.S.A. and the rest of the world. Indeed, on a few occasions, he openly likens Nixon to Hitler; something which no other journalist would dare write, no matter how strongly they felt it.

Rick Steadman's sketches provide another interesting angle on the campaign and complement HST's writing excellently. The author also offers up a few timeless maxims on the nature of politics, which will strike a chord with anyone who lives in a Western 'Democracy'. In all, despite the fact that some of the detail in this book may seem mundane and dated to a present-day reader, most of HST's writing is timeless and one gets an overall sense that U.S. politics don't appear to have changed much since '72. Post-election, Thompson considers running for the office of Senator in Colorado; after reading this book, he certainly would have had my vote.

Brilliant commentary on US politics in action
‘FALOTCT72’ is a series of articles originally written by Hunter Thompson for Rolling Stone magazine, in which he follows the race to elect a Democrat challenger to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential elections. It is a classic example of Gonzo journalism, the style that Thompson made his own, in which the journalist’s views and opinions are allowed to colour the reports, and in which the journalist plays an active part in the unfolding events, and is not just an observer. Thompson clearly favours the ‘no-hope’ left wing candidate George McGovern from the outset, both as an alternative to what he saw as malignant right wing influences within the Democrat party, and also to Nixon, who had begun, to Thompson, to represent everything that had gone wrong with the ideals America was founded with.
‘FALOTCT72’ is, to me, a savage account of the death of the ‘American Dream’ (as Thompson understood it), every bit as devastating as his classic novel ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’. As a journalist who is close to the election (especially to the McGovern campaign), but not actually within the approved cadre of accepted hacks, Thompson is in an excellent position to give a brutally honest account of the electoral process. Although we may accept that behind the scenes shenanigans are standard in elections, the book shows how far from the ideal of democracy modern politics has fallen, with dirty tricks abounding even within the Democrat party against its own candidates. A note of hope is provided as the idealistic, non-politico McGovern comes from nowhere to defeat the old party guard, threatening to usher in a new honesty in politics. Thompson sees hope for America in its support for McGovern until it is brutally swept away by the intrusion of old-style politics into the presidential campaign, heralding a crushing defeat to Nixon, a president almost universally recognised as untrustworthy.
This is a surprisingly touching book. Thompson still has hope for his country in ’72. Indeed that may have been the last year that he did. His feelings about an election that represented so much more than simply a win for Nixon are tragic. It is all told with his trademark savage humour, drug consumption and outrageous behaviour. It perhaps requires some knowledge of American politics to be fully appreciated, perhaps explaining its lower profile when compared to ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’. It is nevertheless very much in the same vein: funny and tragic and beautiful. An observation of American life that says so much more than the text simply describes. This is Hunter Thompson at his most poignant and, for me, the best book of his that I have read to date.