Product Description

Brazen, incisive, and outrageous as ever, Hunter S. Thompson is back with another astonishing volume of private correspondence, the highly anticipated follow-up to THE PROUD HIGHWAY. Spanning the years between 1968 and 1976, these never-before-published letters show Thompson building his legend: running for sheriff in Aspen, Colorado, creating the seminal road book FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, twisting political reporting to new heights for ROLLING STONE and making sense of it all in the landmark FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72. To read Thompson's dispatches from these years addressed to authors and friends, enemies, editors and creditors, and such notables as Jimmy Carter, Tom Wolfe and Kurt Vonnegut - is to read a raw, revolutionary eyewitness account of one of the most exciting and pivotal eras in American history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30789 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Louisville's finest returns with another huge batch of his private correspondence, hammered out from Woody Creek on his typewriter with the frenzied rat-tat-tat report of shots from the hip. Covering the Wonder Years, from the election of Nixon (which first fired his invective), Vietnam, the 1972 campaign, publication of the instantly notorious Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to Watergate, the walking pharmacy reveals himself to be a surprisingly dedicated librarian, having dutifully filed carbons of all his correspondence for such an eventuality. By 1968, the success of Hell's Angels had seen his stock, if not his income, rise, and on the magazine Scanlan Monthly was born Gonzo journalism, dismissing objectivity for furious spontaneity fired from both barrels. However, the hidden image on the Polaroid was a bleary-eyed moralist in deadly earnest, uncontrollably seized by the free-associative rantings of a Tourette's sufferer.

The good doctor sees himself, the sub-title suggests, as an outlaw journalist. He certainly wants to resettle his country, and in many ways these 750 pages read as a "Dear John" from an estranged and bitterly spurned lover, the offending suitor being the American Dream. It's no coincidence that Gatsby, that symbol of its empty heart, is a recurrent reference. In fact, a book about the Death of the Dream was the white elephant that stalked these years, the Big Work that never happened. At least this volume contains much invention, not least of the self, and, if not always sober, then certainly incisive thinking, whether he's addressing fellow Gonzoid Ralph Steadman, Tom Wolfe or the Alaska Sleeping Bag Company. He claims his business is "defusing bombs and disarming landmines", a disingenuous reversal of how he often seems to be acting. An iconic reputation became his ball and chain, and he grew into a love/hate figure, particularly to himself, resembling an outrageous uncle at a family party. He was to become worshipped beyond his means, but for this period, while he huffed and puffed to blow Nixon's White House down, he remained a legend in his own overblown inkdom, something these letters vividly capture. --David Vincent

About the Author
Hunter S. Thompson's books include Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Proud Highway, Better Than Sex, and the Rum Diary. A regular contributor to various national and international publications, Thompson now lives in a fortified compound near Aspen, Colorado

Customer Reviews

A great insight into the mind of a genius
Although at times this collected volume of letters drags in places, there's more than enough to keep your interest. The self obsessed, angry and thoroughly unlikable Dr. Gonzo takes us on a tour of his life by means of personal correspondence. Learn the truth behind "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". See how his relationship with Oscar Acosta grew and fell apart. Not an autobiography, and one wishes by the end a comprehensive, unsensationalised biography of the Dr. would be written. Alongside this, I'd recommend "Hunter" by E. Jean Carrol. Not a perfect biography, but you get to see Hunter S. Thompson through eyes other than his own, domestic violence and all. Inspite of his many flaws, Dr. Gonzo demands a sort of crazed respect. Just don't try to base your own life on his. Believe me, it ain't fun.

Gonzo but not forgotten
This is a great book altogether. It's full of the usual Thompson ranting and raving and railing against everything and everybody, and provides you with more than you would possibly want to know about the man. But that's also the problem here: Thompson is such a crazed, ultimately unlikeable individual (his solution to his wife's depression at a miscarriage? Why, a two-day mescaline binge for the two of them, of course!) that any view you previously had of him is seriously compromised. There is some great writing here, and it fills in a lot of blanks about the creation of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, but Fear And Loathing In America will ultimately leave a bad taste in your mouth. Next move's yours.

An indispenable insight into the mind of Doctor Gonzo
This substantial collection takes the reader through the deranged Doctors finest years. Through his raw correspondence the reader gets a glimpse at the force that drives the King of Gonzo. The book covers the years during which 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' and 'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail' were written and published. The wierd ride that is Thompsons life rushes along at pace and you fast become addicted to his style. There is a much greater concentration of letters from the more intense periods of his life such as the run for Aspen Sheriff in 1970. The insights that the letters provide could be a manual for any aspiring writer, politician or dealer. Such is the breadth of his undeniable genius. Buy this book, you will be glad.