Hunter S. Thompson's groundbreaking novel about his real life experience traveling to Las Vegas under a pseudonym Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo ( Mexican lawyer and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta in real life).

Tasked by Sports Illustrated to cover the annual Mint 400 race that's going to be held in Las Vegas, after haphazardly planning the trip both Duke and Dr. Gonzo ended up with what Hunter S. Thompson describes as:

"The sporting editors had also given me $300 in cash, most of which was already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls"

What was supposed to be an easy sporting coverage of the Mint 400 race quickly turned into an frenzied LSD driven "savage journey to the Heart of the American Dream" and what transpired next is a mixture of mayhem, more drug addiction, hallucinations, booze and pissing every god damn people along the way. Which includes running off from an expensive hotel bill, ditching the Great Red Shark and Lucy the under age girl, and a side job covering the National Narcotics Convention as HST reasons out "the drug people should be rightfully represented".

A classic type of "Gonzo Journalism" that HST have famously invented and practiced throughout his whole writing career. "Fear and Loathing" although lacking in real reportage of journalistic norms or a clear plot, nobody can deny the fact that this book offers some of the best narrative writings only a great writer such as Hunter S Thompson could ever deliver.

From the opening line of

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . ."And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"

to the classic "wave speech" that is for everybody to read out loud and for me belongs in the same league as thet "mad people" quote by Jack Kerouac.

“San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run . . . but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. . . . History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time — and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened. My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty nights — or very early mornings — when I left the Fillmore half-crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big 650 Lightning across the Bay Bridge at a hundred miles an hour wearing L. L. Bean shorts and a Butte sheepherder's jacket . . . booming through the Treasure Island tunnel at the lights of Oakland and Berkeley and Richmond, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too twisted to find neutral while I fumbled for change) . . . but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as high and wild as I was: No doubt at all about that. . . . There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda. . . . You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . . And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . . So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”


If those passages does not amaze you then you don't know how to recognize great writing...and for that you need a reality check....

"Fear and Loating in Las Vegas" its more than being the "best book about the dope decade" its a book where words and prose forms this energy high and dry that will catapult one's imagination LSD or non-LSD into a frenzied acid trip, back to reality and make you crave for such wonderful prose that no other writer living in the world today are capable of writing.

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In America the November Presidential Elections was just the culmination of months of rigid political positioning, the long and winding political process of choosing the Democratic and Republican standard bearer is the blast from the gun that will start all of this.

Through the backstage of every primaries, conventions, secret deals, quick minded handlers, political maneuvers, media, supporters all rolling together to help a candidate get that prized trophy...The Presidential Nomination.

And this is what a full time Rolling Stones correspondent Hunter Stockton Thompson did cover during the time of Dec 71 - March 73, from the onset of the Democratic Presidential race unto the Nationwide Presidential Election itself.

A must read for every political junkie and even to those who are sick of it all, like me, hell this is sort of history as told by HST, even as dubious as American Politics, its eye popping and very informative at the same time.

The 1972 race to the white house was probably one of the most crucial in modern American history, for it was the era of the Vietnam war becoming more of a burden and a thorn in American society, A president who is in the midst of the watergate scandal gunning for re-election, disillusioned young people who would rather become hippies and smoke "marrywanna" than practice their right to suffrage.

Gone are the leaders of yesterdays, ( Jack and Bob Kennedy ), a disgraced Lyndon B Johnson, what remains are the Nixon thugs, a young but reluctant Edward Kennedy and of course the hope of the Democrats, front runner Ed Muskie, Hubert Humphrey and a long shot and the "only honest senator" Sen. Mcgovern.

The madness of that era in American Politics was widely told by HST with cunning reality, bold conviction, brutal truth, obscene, horrid and driven narrative, only he, the quintessential outlaw journalist, Prince of gonzo journalism, fueled by the "edge", Hunter S. Thompson can deliver.

who in his own words "my garb and demeanor is not considered normal by Washington standards" in comparing himself with the normal Washington reporters.

It was a typical HST, but not at all typical by any body's standards, here he relates the all unfolding events, from the get go to the end of the whole madness, thereby taking a toll on himself also., the struggles in finishing the book, the White House's indifference to him ( not giving him press credentials ), the wacky Ed Muskie train junket ( courtesy of some heckling hippies sporting an HST press ID ).

"it become obvious both by the bizarre quality of his first draft work and his extreme disorganized lifestyles, that the only way for the book could be completed was by means of compulsory verbal composition" - HST's editor's note.

Thus explaining the Q&A style in the book's last chapter.

As if the drama, highs and lows of Senator Mcgovern's rise from being merely a contender to the eventual Democratic Presidential nod was not enough, HST was able to cough up some personal account of his life at the time, and some NFL snippets ( Nixon's NFL jinx ), all proved to be entertaining.

Obviously the book shows HST's distaste at the thought of Nixon occupying the White House for another 4 years, at first he explained that his choice of Mcgovern was a fact based on the "lesser of two evils" comparison, but as time goes by he was able to firmly believe with all sincerity that Mcgovern is the man that deserves to be in the White House, at the same time contradicting this belief that Mcgovern is a better Senator than a President working on a National level, still bottomline, its anyone except Nixon.

Its clear cut that he supported Mcgovern's drive to the Democratic race and the Presidential campaign itself, but he was cut out honest enough to enumerate probable varying factors, political miscalculations, mistakes by the staff that contributed to Mcgovern's coming up short in beating Nixon.

the doomedness and failure of the campaign right from the start is written on the wall, against Nixon's well oiled political machinery and "thugs" are very well explained in here.

Right then HST is already writing about the importance of the youth vote, the first timers, who unfortunately was seldom taken advantage by the Politicians then, from a statistic viewpoint of about 25 million youngsters, it was concluded that even at least only 10 % would troop to the polls, it may after all proved the difference.

One factor that Mcgovern failed to take advantage of, maybe it was the 60's mentality or the hippie culture, that instilled on the Politicians mind at that time.

Well HST is right after all because if all of you would remember the various campaign by different organization in the last American Presidential election about the youth vote, you know MTV's "rock the vote", it was all pointed towards youth participation on the election.

Even though i never lived in that era, hell i am not an American to say the least, reading this book fills me with so much understanding not only about American Politics, where "democracy" is built upon, i also got a firm grip on issues that are relevant, ingredients in a successful campaign, and most of all the complexities of the search for power...to attain that one particular Political prize...

Hell its American politics, full of deceit, scumbags, lies and more lies...it can very well be PHILIPPINE POLITICS....

or this book can be very well be Fear and Loathing: Philippine Politics..
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Called by many as "the long lost novel", it was written by then young 22 year old Hunter S. Thompson.

Years before he would make a name for himself and become America's notorious journalist, his technique, method and flamboyant writing style created the so called "gonzo journalism" its style which blurred the distinction between writer and subject, fiction and non-fiction was widely imitated by a lot of witers, all of them coming up way short. 

 

When asked how much of the "fear and loathing" series are facts, he stated his own explanation through Truman Capote's own words "as a non fiction novel in that almost all of it was true or did happen..just warped out a few things"

And the result was a list of cult smash hits like ( are mostly non-fiction or true accounts )
"Fear and loathing in America"
"Fear and loathing in Las Vegas"
"Fear and loathing: the campaign trail of 1972" ( national bookstore in galleria has this one )
"hell's angels" ( his account for riding with the bikers in america known as hell's angels for over a year )
"better than sex"
and the self autobiography "Kingdom of fear" ( which i am now a proud owner )

Either way "The Rum Diaries" is HST 100% shot at fiction, one would just wonder how many "fiction" novels he may have written if he just "found a drug..that can get you anywhere near as high as sitting at a desk, trying to imagine a story no matter how bizzare it is" ( Kingdom of Fear - HST )

The Rum Diaries is set in Puerto Rico circa 1950's, a place where "American dollars and American cars flows through the streets....a rum is a drink of choice better than gin" Paul Kemp a young journalist fresh from countless stints in Europe was called on to join the english language paper called "San Juan Daily News"

A place where rampant drunkenness, stubborness and riotous traits abound, mix with the volatile personas of his peers, third world environment, exotic beaches, un-hospitable looks of the locals, it all becomes a question of survival just trying to exist. A true gritty story and study of human nature forced to different implications by their environment.

A must read indeed not only to HST fanatics.

in what critics called "reveals a young Hunter S. Thompson brimming with talent"

some of the lines from the book

"the sun woke me up the next morning, i sat up and groaned, my clothes were full of sand, 10 feet to my left Yeamon and Chenault were sleeping on their clothes, they were both naked & her arm was thrown over his back, i stared at her, thinking that no one would blame me if i lost my wits and pounded on her, after first crippling Yeamon with a blow on the back of his skull"

"I covered my head with my arms and lashed out my feet, but the awful hammering continued, there was not much pain, but even though the numbness i knew they were hurting me and i was suddenly sure i was going to die, i was still conscious and the knowledge that i was being kicked to death in a Puerto Rican jungle for $ 11.50 filled me with such terror that i began to scream like an animal"

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Hunter S. Thompson's excellent, in your face, documentary non fiction book which narrates the real persona's of the much feared Hell's Angels of America. Immortalized in the Marlon Brando movie "the Wild Ones" and countless bad publicity brought on by the unforgiving American press.

For starters Hell's Angels is comprised of long haired, filthy denim wearing, tattooed, with crazy emblems and insignia, Harley Davidson motorcycle freaks that roams the freeways, sidestreets and alleyways of America, with their big bike engine roaring, chain whips and lunatic laughter, they hang out on pool bars, provoke riots, clashes with the police, all that plus a very, very bad reputation

Question is, how much of that bad reputation are myth?
and how much was brutal truth?

Enter Hunter Stockton Thompson, the king of "gonzo journalism" and the result is a never ending, entertaining look at the life of a Hell's Angels.

From HST detailing the making of the Hell's Angel's Bad reputation.

"nobody knew of course, as they gathered that Saturday at Nick's that the angels were about to make a publicity breakthrough by the means of rape on the scale of the Beatles or Bob Dylan" ( Hell's Angels" - HST )

An alleged gang rape incident that put the Angel's on every front page of leading American newspapers, a case that was eventually dropped.

"it was sex, violence, crime, craziness and filth all in one package" - ( a quote from the book Hell's Angels )

But beyond those reputations created by the media, politician and even the attorney general, HST stood alone in trying to bring the real truth about the real Hell's Angels

"If the hell's angels saga proved any one thing, it was the awesome power of the NY press establishments, the hell's angels as they exist today were virtually created by Time, Newsweek and the NY times" - ( Hell's Angels - HST )

Hunter actually spent a year or so with them

"My dealings with the Angel's lasted about a year and never really ended, i came to know some of them well...enough to relax with them, but at first due to numerous warnings, i was nervous about even drinking ( with them ) - ( Hell's angels - HST )

HST's honest assessment of his subject makes him one of a kind, very in depth as he goes on with more of his findings about every individuals character and as a whole.

"they are deliberately hard on most strangers, but they get bad reactions even when they try to be friendly, i have seen them try to amuse an outsider by telling stories w/c they consider very funny, but which generate fear and queasiness in a listener whose sense of humor has a different filter...they get very angry when they read about how filthy they are, but instead of shoplifting a deodorant, they strive to become even filthier" ( Hell's Angels - HST )

And even crazy enough to doubt himself on what is becoming of his real purpose

"by the middle of summer i had become so involved in the outlaw scene that i was no longer sure whether i was doing research on the hell's angels or being slowly absorbed by them" - ( "hell's angel" - HST )

In the end HST substantiated facts and answered the questions regarding the real picture of the Hell's Angels, it seems that after all said and done...the answer to all of it, Hell's Angels is made up of Half Myth and Half Brutal Truth. As HST found out in the end, in a very painful way

This book is a must for every would be journalist, writers or anyone with a knack for learning, HST as usual delivers a pitch only a few can give.

A knockout, fresh, interesting, brutal yet at the same time hilarious documented account of a particular subject, filled with his own thoughts ( flooded with humor ) and a KILLER STYLE OF WRITING
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