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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

by Hunter S. Thompson

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Showing 1-5 of 69 (next | show all)
Valiums, ether, LSD, weed ... amazing that Dr. Gonzo survived the trip! He had some fantastic stories to tell, and I'm inclined to believe the majority of Las Vegas is under the influence of something. How else could he have gotten away with such ludicrous behavior? Thompson's charismatic personality is certainly hypnotic. ( )
  SFM13 | Nov 8, 2009 |
Hilarious, clever and addictive to read! ( )
  Fallella | Oct 18, 2009 |
Worth it just for Steadman's illustrations ( )
  tro214 | Oct 16, 2009 |
Hunter S Thompson's best book. Gonzo writting at it's best. The movie does not do this book justice (of course). You'll take a journey into the real american dream of the 60's and 70's. This might be confusing with all the drugs involved but read between the lines. You'll want to read Fear & Loathing In America after this one, it's a memoir through his letters written during the period he was writting this book. ( )
  Scrub | Oct 12, 2009 |
One of the most hilarious books I've ever read. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Hunter S. Thompson was a genius. ( )
  RatSoup | Oct 7, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 69 (next | show all)
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -- Dr. Johnson
Dedication
To Bob Geiger, for reasons that need not be explained here -- and to Bob Dylan, for Mister Tambourine Man
First words
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
Quotations
What were we doing out here? What was the meaning of this trip? Did I actually have a big red convertible out there on the street? was I just roaming around these Mint Hotel escalators in a drug frenzy of some kind, or had I really come out here to Las Vegas to work on a story?
All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours, too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped to create...a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody-or at least some force-is tending the Light at the end of the tunnel.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Canonical titleFear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Original publication date1971
People/CharactersHunter S. Thompson, Raoul Duke, Dr. Gonzo, Oscar Zeta Acosta
Important placesLas Vegas, Nevada, USA, Nevada, USA, California, USA
Important eventsMint 400
Awards and honorsWaterstones Books of the Century (1997, No 78), CounterPunch's Top 100 [and a few more] Non-fiction Works of the 20th Century, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006/2008 Edition)
Epigraph"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -- Dr. Johnson
DedicationTo Bob Geiger, for reasons that need not be explained here -- and to Bob Dylan, for Mister Tambourine Man
First wordsWe were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
QuotationsWhat were we doing out here? What was the meaning of this trip? Did I actually have a big red convertible out there on the street? was I just roaming around these Mint Hotel escalators in a drug frenzy of some kind, or had I ... (show all)
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
DescriptionThe basic synopsis revolves around journalist Raoul Duke and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they arrive in 70's Las Vegas to report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they soon abandon their work and begin experimenting w... (show all)
Book description
The basic synopsis revolves around journalist Raoul Duke and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they arrive in 70's Las Vegas to report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they soon abandon their work and begin experimenting with a variety of recreational drugs, such as LSD, cocaine, mescaline, and cannabis. This leads to a series of bizarre hallucinogenic trips, during which they destroy hotel rooms, wreck cars, and have visions of anthropomorphic desert animals, all the while ruminating on the decline of American culture.

Amazon.com Amazon.com Reviews (ISBN 0679785892, Paperback)

Heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the New York Times Book Review, Hunter S. Thompson's documented drug orgy through Las Vegas would no doubt leave Nancy Reagan blushing and D.A.R.E. founders rethinking their motto. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In its trunk, they stow "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls," which they manage to consume during their short tour.

On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the drug-a-delic duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help." For Thompson to remember and pen his experiences with such clarity and wit is nothing short of a miracle; an impressive feat no matter how one feels about the subject matter. A first-rate sensibility twinger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a pop-culture classic, an icon of an era past, and a nugget of pure comedic genius. --Rebekah Warren

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)

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