Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist

When I was in college, my friends and I read Hunter S. Thompson because he was wild, fearless, funny, and took lots and lots of drugs. The mean streak that showed, say, in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas's diner-waitress scene was forgivable; we lived in mean times. The memory of Nixon was still fresh, and Nixon surrounded himself with thugs and goons like Gordon Liddy and Chuck Colson. Maybe the backbone that was needed to oppose dirty-tricksters like these required a certain insensitivity in one's character. Besides, each time he'd write something to make you uneasy, it would be followed by a passage that took your breath away, as much for its passion and idealism as for the force and gracefulness of the prose.

That passion and idealism show more is what makes him worth reading now. It doesn't show much after 1976 and the election of Jimmy Carter (whose personal letters to Thompson, by the way, show a broad-minded tolerance you wouldn't expect in a Southern Baptist politician). But before then, the vigor with which he wrote about politics—and the brilliance with which he expressed his core beliefs: that everybody must have a seat at the table of American democracy, and that individual freedom and representation are paramount—shone through every line of his prose, and was often breathtaking.

In addition, his pre-gonzo journalism, including especially his dispatches from South America in the mid-'60s, showed that he had real physical courage and could write straight as well as just about anybody.

But the dark side of his character was never hidden. Thompson out-Mailered Mailer as the poster villain for toxic masculinity. He was aggressive toward people in his personal life and turned from love to contempt on a dime. He loved guns, motorcycles, and danger, and he loved to start fights. He had little tenderness and dismissed fear and doubt when he would have benefited from embracing them. Anecdotal testimony portrays him as cruel to animals. He expected license due to his brilliance, and he mostly got it.

These letters display that brilliance and show that he was often deeply thoughtful about issues, if never about people. But his manic aggression makes reading him exhausting. It's tolerable when it's laced with humor, but less so when his mood fails him and he falls back on well-established personal tropes and overused phrases. "Brutal...savage...swine..." His pet phrases reveal the fascist dressed in anarchist’s clothing. When he gloried in guns and violence he sounded more like Goering than like any American hero.

I read these 600 pages of letters, but I recommend you stick with the holy trinity of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Great Shark Hunt, and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 to experience the very best of Thompson. There's no need to go further. show less

Anyone coming to the game at this point to buy this book has a damn good idea of what they have in store for them. I just finished pouring through this monster and it was a real slog in several spots. This book would be a great piece to pick up at any point and read a few pages and set it back down. The book is in chronological order as far as the dates of letters and it follows a semi-coherent narrative but becomes quite tedious to read Thompson saying the same things over and over in spots. All of that being said, it still has many fascinating spots from what can be considered Thompson's fertile period of writing. If you are wanting to get a real detailed idea of what made Thompson tick and how his ideas came together then this is a show more great pickup and read, but don't expect to be wowed by any fantastic prose or a rough version of Fear and Loathing. What you will get a some hilarious letters back and forth between Thompson and numerous folks. show less

Wonderfully written experience of the presidential election sof 1972 in which Nixon is portayed as an enemy of the state (which later proved to be true)

Very interesting in parts, but not consistently. Only die-hard fans need apply, particularly those interested in the grand narrative of Thompson's life as well as his work.

Outrageously funny. Hunter is a hip genius with an outrageous sense of humor. It took 32 hours to listen to the audio version.

Gonzo at its best!

want to know what high graed blotter aiced is then this is the book