Product Description

This is Hunter Thompson's perception of the 1960s as told through his letters from 1955 to 1967 (age 17 to 29). Addicted to drugs and alcohol at the time, Thompson's rage and drug-taking derived from his understanding of how much better the world could be, yet how little he could do to improve it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32406 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Proud Highway is the first in an anticipated three- volume collection of the letters of Hunter S. Thompson. It includes letters spanning a 12-year period, during which time Thompson survived his first incarceration, graduated from high school, was discharged from the Air Force, drank to excess, wrote prolifically in obscurity and finally achieved notoriety with the publication of Hell's Angels, his first successful book. The letters are frantic and comedic, self- righteous and intensely cynical. He writes to friends and family, famous authors he admired and even the president of the United States. As Thompson travels from New York City to Puerto Rico, then on to South America and Northern California, his letters trace the development and refinement of his talent. This collection of Thompson's early writings paints a portrait of the man before words like "Gonzo", "Doctor" and "fear and loathing" were inextricably linked to his name, revealing the unrestrained ego that serves as the foundation for the talent of this popular and important American writer.

Customer Reviews

The most surprisingly revealing biographical book i've read
This book, a collection of Thompson's early letters to friends and associates as well as potential (or soon to be ex) employers, is outstanding in every way.

The great selection of the letters together with Thompson's unparralelled ability to express himself via the written word creates an amazing voyage through his early career.

Starting in earnest with his initial career in the Airforce and concluding with him on the cusp of the greatness to come, the book takes us on this journey through his own eyes. I was amazed at how lucid and absorbing a book made up entirely of corresponance could be - only a man of Hunter S's ability to express through language could have succeeded in this achievement. Those who have read the Great Shark Hunt will be transfixed, those who haven't should. An absolute must for anyone with any interest in HST, the sixties, american literature or indeed anyone who just enjoys a damn good book. Outstanding. I just can't wait for Volume 2.

Laugh out loud on the rush hour tube.
I have neaver been one for openly laughing in public places. But this cracked me up. This is Hunter at his most human and his most pithy. You get to see the seeds of disillusionment being sown, and growing into the tree of dissatisfaction. An insight into the life of Hunter Thompson, aspiring writer, Hunter the family man, and introduces you to the many facets of the man perhaps not thought of in the drug addled rush of gonzo journalism. This is a cracking book and I can't wait for the next two volumes.

An insight into the greatest journalistic mind of the centur
This chronicle of the great Doctors life during the 60's is both fascinating, and at times terrifying. It is amazing how one man can go through so mcuh, and yet find such lttle reward from those around him. The highlight of the book in my mind is the letter involving Thompson being fired for attacking a candy machine. Pure gonzo journalism that never relinquishes.