This book is a bit outdated, given the gender mix in the press corps now. But it still provides a good insight into the minds of reporters, especially those covering national politics.

This book is an account of the 1972 presidential campaign. Crouse's account set the standard for books about presidential campaigns; a standard that has not yet been beaten.

The 1972 campaign involved the first real attempt by campaigns to spin-doctor the press and American people during a campaign. Previously, we left that to the already elected.

The 1972 campaign also marked the first real attempt by networks to create stars out of reporters. This network tactic has continued unabated until the present. In fact, recent studies have reported that reporters now receive much more air time than the actual candidates.

Crouse's book is essential reading for political junkies as well as history buffs. The 1972 election was truly a watershed event which continued through the Watergate era.

Crouse's groundbreaking book on the 1972 Presidential campaign was reveolutionary in the way it covered the reporters who covered the election. This was the first step in to turning these reporters into "stars" in their own right. Who can doubt today that the visibility one gets from being a reporter on a successful Presidential campaign can transform you into a highly paid and visible "talking head." Crouse's book is well written, informative and quite amusing, which is appropriate since he spent the campaign hanging out with the immortal Hunter S. Thompson. A must for political junkies.

This book was the second in a proposed "trilogy" of Hunter S. Thompson's personal letters. This book continues were the Proud Highway left off.

Where did that leave off, well it was 1968 and Nixon was slowly becoming one of Hunter's people to pick on. This volume of letters were just as good as the 1st volume if not better! He writes to KREX TV in Grand Junction and complains about their programming or lack there of, and that was in 1968 and I want to do that myself here in 2001! He also writes Senators, Presidents, and Editors! We learn about his attempt to become Sheriff of Pitikin County on the "freak power ticket," whether or not Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was fiction or real!

All in all this book is great and anyone who likes Thompson should pick this one up and prepare to never put it down until you are done! I have to go and read his column on ESPN.com page 2 that is posted every Monday, titled Hey Rube!

Thompson's style illuminates his letters to freinds, creditors, debtors, associates, and enemies. This collection of Thompson's letters to the above showcase his unparrelled talents and imagination. No one rages or praises like Hunter S. His vitrolic rants are both scary (you can practically taste the bile) and engrossing (never have I heard the words ...; used so appropriately and w/ such abandon). This collection encapsulates the time Thompson wrote the letters ('68-'76), everything from the end of the hippies to Nixon to the music, and is loaded w/ political and pop culture references. The Proud Highway showcased Thompson's budding talents and raw prose, here his Gonzo style comes out clearer w/ each writing, and though, like The Proud Highway, wanes on certain letters, it will regain your interest in just a few pages. It's an insight into his life at that period, argueably his most brilliant time, when he wrote the now classic (which he predicted) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegs; The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. It also tells of Thompson's tale to run on the Freak Power ticket for Sherriff of Aspen, his strokes of humanity when dealing w/ people, and the backlash that is Thompson when he's treated poorly. A must for any fan of Hunter S. Thompson.

This 2nd volume of letters written by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson covers the years in which Dr. Thompson was writing his opus on the death of the American dream, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Picking up after the publication of "Hell's Angels" and covering the late 60's and 70's, this collection provides an insight into the often twisted genius that is Dr. Thompson. However, as interesting as some of the letters between Thompson and his editor regarding "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" are, the real prize of this volume is the everyday letters that he writes to fans (who want more information from him on how to join the Hell's Angels), his Dentist (who tries to collect $277 from Thompson at once, a tactic which Thompson calls "sheer madness"), and an outdoor clothing catalog (from whom he wants a refund when he finds that one of their products which is supposed to be made from leather is no longer made of leather). It is these letters that show how normal Thompson thought his actions were, even though they may have seemed anything but normal to those he was writing to. Other highlights include the book's opening essay on Bob Dylan and the hippie dream, his earliest ramblings from his lawyer Oscar Acosta, and a letter to mystery writer Sue Grafton who grew up in the same town as Thompson. Perhaps the most interesting discovery to fans of Thompson are the letters detailing Thompson's plans to have his novel, "The Rum Diary" published as early as 1968, a promise that would not come to fruition for another thirty years. Overall this collection of letters is an essential piece of the puzzle that is Thompson's literary catalog, even more so than the previous volume of letters published in 1997.

I wonder why "The Curse of Lono" has gone out-of-print. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and is good journalism. No, it is great journalism. So says the experts too: the author's work has been elevated to the classics with one of his books being printed in an Everyman's Library hard-cover edition. So Hunter S. Thompson joins Oscar Wilde and other great writers.

"The Curse of Lono" made me laugh so hard that tears filled my eyes. Hunter S. Thompson was paid to cover a marathon race by Rolling Stone or some other magazine. While the race is the usual bore, the antics of the journalist are not. Having drunk gallons of beer and liquor and consumed various illegal drugs, Thompson and his traveling companion sit at the edge of the race and jeer on the racers. "He fatso. What's wrong? That hill is too steep for you?"

Flying on a jumbo jet to the race in Hawaii Thompson gets his arm stuck in a chemical toilet. He put his hand down there because his marijuana, cocaïne, or whatever falls into the toilet bowl. When he comes out of the head his arm and his shirt and stained bright blue. The airliner's crew know at once what has happened.

The funniest part of the book to me is what happens when Thompson goes fishing. The captain of the boat drinks a quart of vodka and then takes some mescaline or some other hallucinogenic drug. A the boat bobs precariously close to the cliffs along the island the captain lets go of the anchor line and it falls overboard. The captain then dons scuba gear in his tripping, hallucinating state and dives overboard to retrieve it. As Hunter S. Thompson puts it, "No self-respecting captain would return to port without his anchor" for fear of being laughed at.

All of this talk of drugs and drink might be pathetic or sad if it was not handled properly. But Thompson is the founder-and maybe only participant in-the style of writing and journalism that he calls "gonzo journalism". His style is truly unique. I became convinced of his genius after reading "Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas", another drunken, stoned adventure tale and a memoir that he wrote in "The New Yorker" magazine. His New Yorker article deviating from his usual tone-perhaps owing to it's presence in that hallowed forum--was a well-written and very interesting look at his days living in Puerto Rico as a journalist. I think his books on presidential politics are less interesting than these two books. I haven't yet read "Hells Angels" but plan to do so.

Considering that I have spent a great part of my life in Kona, it is intresting to read a book about it. I know everywhere he is and what it looks like. This is a hilarious book and is for anyone of intrest to Thompson. I think I would like to purchase a war club as well...

Hunter is the creator and king of gonzo journalism. Here is a quote from Thompson about what Gonzo journalism is:"My idea was to buy a fat notebook and record the whole thing as it happened, then send in the notebook for publication-- without editing. That way, I felt the eye and mind of the journalist would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive - but once the image was written, the words would be final; in the same way that a Cartier-Bresson photograph is always (he says) the full-frame negative. No alterations in the darkroom, no cutting or cropping, no spotting . . . no editing.

This is a good book, full of funny moments and hard to believe stories. There is no slow build up or filler in the middle. The book grabs you from the beginning with the author's stories and keeps you laughing until the end.

This might not be a good first book to start with. Hunter's style and actions may be hard for some to read without getting offended. Sometimes Hunter will wander into side tangents before getting back on track with what is currently going on; this may annoy some people. I recommend starting with "Hells Angels" or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" before paying the extra bucks for this out of print book.

Hunter S. Thompson has made a career out of becoming a part of his journalistic endeavors. He has dived into his stories so frequently and so deeply that he has developed his own character in them, the gonzo journalist. The Rum Diary, thankfully, gives us a different look at Thompson: the quiet observer. Quiet, that is, relative to the other characters in this book.

The Rum Diary chronicles Hunter's own time spent in Puerto Rico. The book itself is a pretty wild ride. After arriving in Puerto Rico, Thompson goes to work for a newspaper that is in the midst of a protest. The reporters risk mugging just to enter the building. Thompson soon meets a couple of friends and drunken hijinks ensue with Thompson and everybody else gorging themselves on the local drink, Rum (hence the title). Think of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but take away the drugs and add more booze. That would be close.

This book isn't nearly as vital or symbolic as some of Thompson's more famous works but for true Thompson fans it offers an insight into the man, not the myth.

To be honest, this book isn't nearly as entertaining as HST's other works. The first chapter starts off good with a humorous account of the main character's run in with a fellow airline passenger. Right away I knew that this was going to be classic Hunter S. Thompson. Sadly, that was the first and last time I chuckled while reading this book. True, he was only twenty-two when he wrote this, but it seems that he was either too drunk or too afraid to take any chances with the story. The characters are two-dimensional at best. Paul Kemp, the man whose eyes we peer through for the duration of the novel, is the least developed character. The novel flows at a languid pace and often appears to be monotonous in tone. Nonetheless it is an engaging read that should appeal to a larger audience than his other books. To me the ironic thing is, had he not been consumed by alcohol and narcotics, he could have gone on to be one of the greats. As it stands he is a legendary counter-culture journalist who is more famous for his addictions than his writings. Kids my age--in their early to mid twenties--read HST because of the drug laden content; because it's "cool". Which is all the wrong reasons to read. I fell in love with HST's works when I was a teenager--and when I subscribed to the lifestlye that he describes--and although I appreciate his work now, his prose is absolutely remarkable, I can't help to wonder what could have been. As I said it's a respectable first novel, one that could entertain his fans as well as fans of Hemingway or Kerouac, but it's no masterpiece. I would recommend this novel so one could further understand how a talented writer ends up where he is. Or if you're just looking for a solid read that isn't knee deep in artistic integrity or bourgeois sentamentality, then pick this up today.

This is the "lost novel" by Hunter S. Thompson, a book that he started writing in 1959 to make a quick buck. He struggled all through the sixties to get this thing rewritten and published, but because of its quality and Thompson's legendary shakedowns with agents, publishers, and contracts, it died on the vine - until a few years ago. This quasi-fictional account of a New York reporter drifting into a job at the San Juan Daily News is somewhat based on Thompson's experience on the Carribean island in the late 1950. Trying to put Puerto Rico on the literary map like Hemingway did for Paris, he spells out a story of corruption, boredom, and alcohol in a more simple San Juan, before the big booms of the travel booms and technology of the sixties. Paul Kemp, the fictional narrator, describes the coworkers, women, natives, and insane government, riddled with syndicates and kickbacks. The writing here isn't like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - it's more of the Orwell/Mailer/Miller genre, and does a good job of painting memorable scenes of the insanity, camaraderie, poverty, and drunkenness on top of the tropical backdrop. It's not bad stuff, and I wonder if it recently went through heavy rewrites, or if there just wasn't a market for it back in the sixties. Either way, it's a light, fast read at just over 200 pages, and made me wonder if Thompson's other unpublished work would be as satisfying in a trade hardcover. Maybe someday?

I became a Hunter S Thompson fan early on. It was high school when I was in my more radical, experimental phase. Reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a whirlwind event. I had never encountered anything like it before. It was a bit more than my teenage mind could handle. HST immediately shot up the ranks of my favorite authors. He was explosive and also more accessible than the beats. There was always a sense of awe whenever the name of Hunter Thompson was invoked. The blend of journalism with fiction was a unique blend. It also seemed at times to hit on the truth more accurately than a lot of serious journalism. But before I go off about HST, let me get back to the bio at hand. This is not an authorized biography but I feel that it does shed some light on Thompson. It would seem that perhaps Thompson is receiving a bit of his own medicine here. Perry does give us some information on Thompson's childhood. He also gets into the early years of Thompson's career before the legend of Gonzo was born. This does help explain the development of this hick from Kentucky into a world renown icon of gonzo journalism. I would grant that a more definitive bio of HST could be written. There are others that I have yet to read. I was happy to get the info this book offers. I should tide me over until I read those books. HST is a fascinating figure in 20th Century America. This book is one piece to help solve the puzzle.

This is an excellent book, one that I am glad is not written in the gonzo style.

Hunter's life is dissected and examined by Perry, who did a thoughtful and insightful work.

If you want gonzo, read Hunter, he is the only one who can write that way. If you want to read about gonzo and the mind behind it, this is your read.

It is impossible to read anything ever written by Thompson without being intrigued about who this guy is and if he is for real.This book answers many of questions regarding his history as well as his interactions with those around him. It is a very well wrought and researched piece about a very interesting subject.

Much like an aging rock group that continues to pack county fairs and other venues by playing their old hits, Hunter S. Thompson continues to release new books with very little new material. This book is billed as a memoir but you've already read what he's had to say in previous books.

Once in awhile, Hunter gets on a roll with an interesting riff about an event in his life that will make you howl with laughter while he also makes a number of important observations. The problem with his writing in general is that it only happens every so often. The good part about his writing is that when he is successful, no one does it better.

Unfortunately, this book offers little in breaking new ground. It's still worth picking up but pales in comparison to his classic works such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

My final comment is that Hunter has failed to capitalize on his standing to continue being a relevant voice regarding today's United States. He could have easily used this book as a platform regarding Sept. 11 and President Bush's handling of the war against terrorism. Thompson briefly touches on the issue and lashes out at Ashcroft and Rumsfeld but what he has to say isn't unique or particularly insightful.

It's indicative that time has passed him by, but many of us will still treasure and remember most of his older work.

HST is bitingly funny in his recounting of episodes fighting against the System. In "The Witness" a has been well known porn star tries her damndest to set Hunter up for a BIG fall on drug charges and sexual assault. Thompson embarasses and shames the District Attorney and LEO's of Pitkin County (here in Colorado where he lives in Aspen).Thompson is, as always, his own person. Describing his days in SF working as Night Manager for the Mitchell Brothers famous O'Farrell Theater - THE center of pornography in it's heyday. Long running legal battles with Diane Feinstein and the leading edge of Freedom of Expression involving Sex in America. Oh enough BS! Thompson loved hanging out with strippers and other free spirits!

This is Thompson's first book since the September 11 attacks. He (accurately, in my opinion) feels that life in America will never be the same. Our generation and todays children, will be in a state of war for our lifetimes. He speculates that, for the first time in recent American history, the next generation will be less well off than the current generation. And America will relearn the sacrifices of previous generations. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Kingdom of Fear is a series of funny, irreverent memoirs describing events in Hunter S Thompson's life. He admits that some embellishing took place. A bit of what he writes about takes place in Aspen with quite a bit of Colorado "references" and landmarks, and personalities. Which (as a long time resident) I found enjoyable. The Ducati blast through "ranch" traffic and close calls with the "sausage maker" are hilarious.
The book has quite a few photographs including the back cover of Hunter buck naked except his famous hat firing a shotgun.
To sum up: As HST's good friend Warren Zevon wrote: "lawyers, guns and money"

A fun read from a guy who has led an interesting life!

Swanson from Danville gets it; Smith from Portland and especially Standiford from Cypress are lost in space-perhaps they've heard the Song of the Sausage Creature once too often.

Yes, the Doc recounts Events that we've read about before, like the Freak Power campaign of 1970. But there's so much more to it than that.

Thompson's dismay (Fear) at the Deterioration of due process of the law in the American justice system and his anger (Loathing) at the Contempt and Utter Disregard shown by the current powers that be toward the Bill of Rights and all things Constitutional are the common threads weaved Artfully through each one of his thoroughly enjoyable and creatively titled stories. And somehow he manages to maintain his Sense of Humor. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Thompson has spent most of his Prodigious career in Gonzo Journalism chronicling the Death of the American Dream, pronouncing our Hopelessness and Impending Doom and entertaining himself and some of the rest of us with the delicious Absurdity of it all. But you're left with an underlying Sense that he's pulling for the good guys to Ultimately Triumph. Reading this book one gets the sense that the Doc feels that The Odds are now Prohibitive of the good guys ever emerging Victorious. Mahalo.

I've read all of Thompson's books, most more than once, for their Social and Political Commentary as well as their Entertainment Value, and this one is by Far his Best and Most Important work. It's also the most disturbing and most depressing, especially in light of the Doc's Clarity of Vision and Dedication to the Truth, but it's by Far his Best and Most Important work. Res Ipsa Loquitur.

This book was written in 1966 so if you are looking to read about such things as the infamous incident involving the Hell's Angels at the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, you will be disappointed. However, this book is a fascinating snapshot in time of the outlaw motorcycle gang just as they were gaining national notoriety. Hunter S. Thompson, who would later achieve much wider fame as a "gonzo" reporter for Rolling Stone, actually hung out with the gang for about a year or so while he was writing this book. This is not HST at his best - he would get much better later on - but nevertheless this book makes for compelling reading.

The Hell's Angels in the mid-1960s were the scourge of America. Just a rumor of them coming to town would cause mass hysteria. Most of the natives would cower in their homes and many of the men would load their weapons and gather at the town square. Police would throw up roadblocks and attempt to discourage them by citing them for any violation they can think of and throwing them in jail, if they can find a good enough reason (such as an unpaid traffic ticket).

But according to Thompson, the Hell's Angels didn't go out of their way to terrorize people and they just wanted to be left alone. Sure, the Angels got a kick out of "spooking the squares" with their loud choppers and their menacing dress and mannerisms but they wouldn't go out of their way to harm anybody. If you decided to lock horns with them however, all bets are off. The Angels have a code in which if you take on one Angel, you take on them all. Give any one of them some lip in a bar and you will find yourself surrounded by a dozen of them wielding chains, monkey wrenches and whatever else they can find that can serve as a lethal weapon.

Also discussed is the real story behind the alleged "rapes" committed by Hell's Angels. I was amazed to read of how women would willingly "throw themselves" at the Hell's Angels in spite of their reputation for "gang-raping" any female who willingly enters their midst. Once the Angels started making the papers, groupies started coming out of the woodwork everywhere. I think Thompson does a good job explaining the circumstances behind the notorious "rapes" and when you hear the whole story, you will no longer wonder why nearly every rape charge leveled against a Hell's Angel was thrown out of court or ended in acquittal. Rule of thumb to would be Hell's Angel groupies: Don't stick your hand in a hornet's nest unless you intend to get stung many times!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not making the Hell's Angels out to be nice guys. These are true outlaws who have virtually no respect for decency or law and order. Some parts of the book will gross you out (if Hunter is telling the truth). For example, when you are initiated and wear your "colors" for the first time, a pail of feces and urine is dumped over you and you are required to wear those same clothes unwashed until they fall apart.

No question this is one wild bunch and this book makes fascinating, if voyeuristic reading. One gets the sense that Hunter Thompson was never really accepted into the club. Supposedly Thompson "wimped out" during a riot by locking himself in his car trunk (not mentioned in the book). This may be why he ended up being beaten to a pulp by them towards the end of the book. Also, Thompson is said to have welshed on the deal he made with the Angels for writing his book. Supposedly he offered to buy them two kegs of beer when the book was written and he never delivered. Many years later, he offered the beer but his offer was refused by club president Sonny Barger. Once you get on the wrong side of the Angels, it is for life!

This is a fun read, with more info on biker gangs than you probably wanted to know. Generally considered a classic within most HST fan circles. I really like it.

Hunter S. Thompson writes a truthful, unsentimental and ultimately sad story of the Hell's Angels in the mid 60's. After describing the activities of the outlaws, exploits which we are mostly familiar with and which pale by comparison to today's youth gangs, he concludes that the Hell's Angels are losers; lonely and uneducated.

I was surprised at H. S. Thompson's ability to describe the personalities behind the outlaw biker facade. He makes the sad point that the HA's would be the first group eradicated by the very political factions they reflected, if those factions ever came to power. Of course, the Angels weren't remotely aware of this.

Thompson writes with a simple, hilarious style. I found myself laughing out loud at sentences of brilliant understatement. I had no intention of reading this book, which was loaned to me by a friend, but once I started, I couldn't stop reading.

This book blew. It reminded me of trying to watch a movie when someone with an enormous head is sitting right in front of you. You know that something is going on, because on the periphery there are indications of a story, but Thompson's huge ego keeps getting in the way. I can't even count the number of times I rolled my eyes in the first twenty-five pages. Since when did name recognition give someone the right to be a blowhard?

This book seemed much MORE self-conscious to me than his earlier work, and that is a difficult mark to pass.

Like many another of his kind, Hunter S Thompson has outlived his greatness. When he started out, he was the most dangerous man in his vocation; now, even the Secret Service considers the guy harmless. Sad, but true: when he places bizarre calls to the White House switchboard and hollers "I feel like killing somebody!" in a crowded bar at the Capital Hotel on election night, it's hard to escape the suspicion that he's no longer doing this for the hell of it, he's doing it to live up to a character - doing what's expected of him. A well-behaved, sober Hunter Thompson would be more genuinely subversive than the caricature that slouches through the pages of this shoddy collection of faxes, scrawled memos, pictures, and a less-than-riveting central narrative that fails to plug us into the momentum of the campaign, so that the pay-off of the election itself doesn't carry any zing. But that's not to say it's a bad book. It's simply not an uplifting one - not that Thompson's earlier works weren't gloriously sordid and deranged, but here there's a lingering sense of waste, of failure, and it's hard not to see why. HST is a spiritual anarchist not truly at home in any civilized environment, and the only decade for him was the Sixties. He chronicled the downward spiral of the next two decades fiercely, but this final decade of the twentieth century seemed impossibly dull and discouraging to him. "The standard gets lower every year, but the scum keeps rising," writes Thompson in the defining passage of the book. "A whole new class has seized control in the nineties. They call themselves 'The New Dumb' and they have no sense of humor. They are smart, but they have no passion. They are cute, but they have no fun except phone sex and line dancing...." There were no heroes in the '92 election. Thompson backed Clinton, but only because he had a chance to beat George Bush ("a raving human sacrifice," says HST of Geo. W.'s dad, and "a criminal fraud worse than Nixon") and considers Perot beneath contempt, a spotlight-crazed little runt with no good in him. As for Bill Clinton, HST has a few positive words but no illusions about his "low-rent accidental fascist-style campaign." It's hard to forget the story of his extremely weird encounter with the future President in a restaurant in Little Rock; it's laugh-out-loud funny all right, but also very creepy in a way it's hard to put your finger on. As with much of the guy's work, it's sometimes hard to distinguish fact from forgivable hyperbole from outright nonsense, and maybe it's more fun that way. But HST saves his knockout punch for the very end, almost as an afterthought: his Rolling Stone obituary for Richard Nixon. If this weren't also available somewhere on the internet, its inclusion would justify purchasing Better Than Sex. Much earlier in the book, he remembers his shock on first reading H. L. Mencken's vicious obituary of William Jennings Bryan - "I remember thinking...Ye gods, this is evil. I had learned in school that Bryan was a genuine hero of history, but after reading Mencken's brutal obit, I knew in my heart that he was, in truth, a monster." Mencken's piece was the standard HST held himself to when he prepared to write Nixon's eulogy, and he lived up to it: these few brutal pages are perhaps the most stunning he's ever written. If our 37th President is remembered by only one document, let it be this. If the tone seems strangely personal, it's because this piece, the culmination of HST's career as a political journalist, is as much a farewell from Thompson himself as it is to Nixon. As he writes, "I am poorer now...He brought out the best in me, all the way to the end, and for that I am grateful to him. Read it and weep, for we have lost our Satan."

Not exactly a great book, but no one else could describe the '92 campaign better than HST. It was interesting to find out that he wanted to run for sheriff of Pitkin Co, Colorado on the Freak Power Ticket. Seeing catch phrases, ho ho and bubba on almost every page was a bit much, but at some moments I believe he may have got it from Clinton himself. Selah. Thompson also adds personal faxes to this book that show his mind is still the same as it was when writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Some have said the years may be catching up with him, but how much do you actually think he had to work with on the '92 campaign? He did what he could with it, but it was a little boring, but nothing about the '92 campaign was really worth writing a book about. Maybe some more into the great minds of Admiral Stockdale and H. Ross Perot? That would have made the book even more boring, but considering what he had to work with, this book is a decent account of getting the "redneck" from Arkansas into the White House, bubba. Maybe he should have waited a while and added a little about the use of "interns" in the White House, and we would have seen the great Dr. we all know and love!

I read this book right after "The Great Shark Hunt," and it was a bit of a let down. The articles are all around two to three pages in Generation of Swine, so none of them are as intricate nor as detailed as some of the masterpieces found in Shark Hunt.

The first half of the book is the most relaxed writing I've read of Thompson, lots about gambling, shooting and life around Woody Creek. When the Iran Contra scandal starts to heat up Thompson comes alive. He's back to his acid spitting deconstruction of the American political engine. His attacks become ever more frenzied until Bush Sr. escapes the noose for his involvement in the whole affair. This seems to cool Thompson down he seems resigned to fate; 15 years earlier he would have written 30 page rallying cries, like "The Scum also Rises," but he's an older now and he takes it in stride.

It's an interesting book, and fantastic journalism. The 80's weren't half as dynamic as the 60's or 70's and as such it's not the place to start with Thompson. However, it might very well be the place to end.

Fear & Loathing on the campaign trail is probablly the good doctor's masterpiece but pretty much any of the gonzo papers books are well worth a read. It might have been interesting if a younger, angrier HST had been unleashed on the 1980s but this is a mellowed Thompson. But not too mellow. What you get is often hilariously funny stuff about Reagan, drugs, gambling, Iran and inevitably, Richard Nixon. Not a major work and it is slightly inconsistant, but every so often the doc's depraved mind slips into a higher gear and you're glad that the old bugger isn't dead yet. In fact, when he does finally peg out, someone should white the last few paragraphs of the introduction on his tombstone: Hunter's almost serious take on heaven and hell which is worth the price of admission alone.

I read this book when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, it helps if you are a political junkie.

The surprising thing, though, is how I think it holds up, even though so many of the anecdotes and columns are topical of the era in which it was written. I picked this up the other day at the book store, on a whim, and sat down to revisit it. I was laughing so uncontrollably, and for such a period of time, that a lady sitting nearby asked me what I was reading, went and got a copy for herself, started perusing it and ended up buying it.

Nobody...NOBODY is as perfectly vicious and insanely funny at the same time. He is like an impressionist political commentator. His portraits of George Bush Sr here aren't quite accurate...but something about the way he exagerates the man's traits captures his essence more clearly than any attempt at objectivity could hope for.

If only he were still covering politics...

Hunter is the man But you need to be a die hard fan to get this book because it is very short and isn't the most interesting thing you have every read. but it is good for collectors.

Mahalo! Gonzo fiends... when Hunter Thompson needs extra cash, he releases three pieces of literature rivaling only William S. Burroughs in pure maniacal insanity. The main composition of "Screwjack" consist of Thompson's Mescalito, Death of a Poet, and Screwjack, all of which constitute pieces written by Thompson while on massive amounts of mind altering "experiences."

Within the opus, no plots and themes to these three stream of consciousness prose; thus, it is pure Gonzo in its natural state. Thompson on assignment and drugs means only people who have prior experience with his other work, can have a total grasp on what Mr. Duke is trying to say.

Thompson's writing is demanding of the reader, and unequivocally grasps at any attention lying in wait. Lurking around the ominous corner is more tales, more stories, and Hunter Thompson inscrutably proves himself as a great writer. Thompson collects his own correspondence, and saves every letter he receives; thus, a communication at the beginning of the book.

Mescalito rages on in drug frenzy fashion from start to finish, along with Death of a Poet and Screwjack. These three pieces are very creative to say the least, and publishing only happened recently for this particular Raoul Duke outburst. The very essence of the first story is Thompson battling himself in a Los Angeles hotel room while trying to finish a story and on different strengths of alcohol and drugs.

Death of a Poet tells the tale of a man on his last straw with the surrounding environment around him, and the violent means to his finality. Raoul Duke runs across a hardcore gambler in his shack, on his last dime, and witnesses evil violence that one with only concrete sanity may even have a remote chance of describing.

Screwjack is a complete chaotic mess of love letter gone completely wrong where Mr. Duke experiences a kind of frustration only held to those who see past the seers. Thompson's ingenious diction and complete nonsense clash with violent fervor, and either grip the reader, or turn the reader loose, never to look upon Thompson's work again. The editor's note for this piece is not only is an insightful blurb for the reader, but to fully understand what Thompson wrote, the editors must explain in their own words Mr. Duke's fascination with drug induced insanity.

Only spend money on this Thompson collection if you have some loose lucre to throw around, and are looking for some madness.

I rode my motorcycle 20 miles in a light rain to eat breakfast in a cafe on the California coast with this small book stuffed into my worn leather jacket's inner pocket. I will never forget the look into Hunter S Thompson's psyche that this great little book provides for the reader. His words are especially powerful in "Mescalito" the author's first experience with Mesculine. His words as well as his train of thought become more and more garbled as he experiences the first of many wild rides that have become the wonderful although sometimes controversial subject matter for many of Thompson's writings.

This is a great taste of Hunter S Thompson, for someone discovering or re-discovering his writing.