Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

HST definitely seemed like a guy with a little too much lust for a specific kind of life for me to want to actually hang out with the guy, but nevertheless Kingdom Of Fear is great reading to see exactly how bizarre that life was. HST talks about his trip to Greneda for the "war" and about his fight for 4th amendment rights, and all in this voice of a crazed maniac with a lot of focus on being left alone to do his own thing. I kind of loved that part of it, and that permeates the book.

Kingdom of Fear - “It would be easy to say that we owe it all to the Bush family from Texas, but that would be too simplistic. They are only errand boys for the vengeful, bloodthirsty cartel of Jesus-freaks and super-rich money mongers who have ruled this country for at least the last 20 years, and arguably for the past 200. They take orders well, and they don’t ask too many questions.”

Ah Hunter, you had me from this quote in the “Memo from the Sports Desk"! And, for me, that memo might have been the best part of this book!

This collection could also have been titled, or sub-titled, "Fear and Loathing in Woody Creek Colorado" as many of the pieces in here have to do with that town, or the surrounding area, including Aspen. I had show more read a few of the tales in "Happy Birthday, Jack Nicholson", but gladly re-read them in here! My only issue with the collection is that it is all over the place, both chronologically and topically, and never feels cohesive. I guess I was looking for more of a novel. But the stories themselves are fun to read, and totally and completely representative of Hunter S. Thompson! show less

I kept reading just for the occasional great political commentary.
The short essays grew increasingly BORING, notably with the ongoing acutely boring "Witness."
I had many Blech-why-read-this moments, notably with no remorse on pointless dangerous lunatic shootings, even of his own peacocks.

He may have been (from the Introduction) "...a howling vortex of outrage and pain while being the most accurate journalist you'll ever read,"
but likely this was when he was not drunk, howling on drugs, or having disturbing fantasies.

Had he lived, he might have pointed his rifle differently.

An angry old crank looks back on a rare life with some bitterness and still blames almost everything wrong in the world on Nixon, the rest on W Bush. Far from Thompson's best stuff, like Hell's Angels, but there are enough gems in it to remind you why could never resist his books in the first place. As with all of his writing, NOT for the faint of heart. If you haven't read him before, best not start with this.

Really HST writing at its peak. An excellent excellent book. It just takes you through various experiences in his life from childhood into old age and is just as crazy and humorous as you could hope it to be.
My favorite section was his telling of his birthday gift to Jack Nicholson. Priceless!

Worth it just for the fact that he calls George W Bush a whore-beast.

Stopped reading short of the last chapter. Rife with Child-Molestation fantasies, and real Woolfian insanity, a real put-off considering the very hard, very devastating parallels with what is politically going on the US today.