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FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - Hunter S Thompson

Note: a version of this review originally appeared as part of the hit list

rolling stone corrospondant thompson is given the task of covering the mint 400 race in las vegas, and drives there from los angeles in a red convertable with his attorony and enough drugs and alcohol to have the mother of all benders en-rounte. arriving at their hotel surrounded by other pressmen and an alarming amount of halluninary zoo animals, thompson struggles through acid trips, freak outs and a seriously dangerous lawyer recording every drug induced second of madness in a writing style as original and unique as has ever been committed to paper. always irreverant and occasionally paranoid, thompson manages to stumble into all sorts of trouble helped and hindered by the drugs and his attorony in equal measure. the stoned pair gatecrashing an anti-narcotics convention in the city is far too funny to relate here, and even smashed out of his mind on ether, thompson natural humour and intellect shine through making this far more than just a tale of some junkie. a must read of modern literature.

FEAR & LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 1972 - Hunter S Tompson

as the national affairs editor for rolling stone, thompson joined the train of journalists covering the presidential election of 1972 hoping to see richard nixon fall before being re-elected for a second time. with the watergate scandal in the far future, the book focuses on the democrats in-fighting and ultimate defeat by a frustrated thompson who documents the demise of the candidates in critical detail, showing how sections of the political party would willingly back republican nixon purely in order to scupper each other. in doing so he pictures a world of squabbling, backstabbing and career gambling, a time when spin doctors were still just known as press sectaries even though the difference is only in the title. there are several revealing interviews with the major candidates aside from thompsons own thoughtful observations which make the book relevant even in todays political climate. obviously the drug and alcohol abuse from las vegas take a backseat for this book, but the authors brilliant style and honest remain intact.

We watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas this weekend and it was an amazing film. Jonny Depp is a genius with the character and manages to show an amazing story. The film is amazingly tripped out; as you would expect since the story focuses on a drugged up reporter.

I would rate

HELLS ANGELS - Hunter S Thompson

although it was to be a drug fuelled rampage to las vegas that would make his name infamous as a journalist who put himself through the mental and physical grinder to get the truth about life down on paper, hunter s thompson was an accomplished and radical writer long before this, and one of these pre-fear and loathing exposés was hell angels. in the 60s, the motorcycle gang was viewed as a public menace that raped and pillaged its way across america like ironhorse mounted vikings from a middle-class nightmare, but the truth that thompson uncovered was as ever noticeably different from the hysterical image the new york times would have had the public believe.

putting himself in the firing line between the police and the angels, thompson investigates deep behind the headlines to find out a lot of the stories are half-fact and half-bullshit; the rapes that never took place, the riots the angels had nothing to do with and the official government line that was little short of a declaration of war. at the same time there is no attempt to make the gang into martyrs even though he spent a considerable time hanging out and drinking with them; a lot of them were thugs, criminals and scum but no more so than any other gang of outsiders the police didn’t like the look of.

then again, the catalogue of violent sex and death they were responsible for is still a shocking portrayal of the ugly side of life, yet thompson manages to give each episode a context and reason even if he stops before issuing a personal note of praise or condemnation. the introduction of beat generation icons ken kesey and allan ginsburg to the mix is an interesting tie-in to my recent reading of kerouac and william burrourghs, but the love of the open road and narcotics between the hell angels and the writers is markedly different – culminating with the stand off and fighting surrounding the veitnam protests.

the even-handedness of the text is startling when the post script details the beating thompson received from the angels when their publicity status reached such a level they thought he was riding on their coattails, when in fact it is probably the most balanced account of the gang committed to print. in the face of such sudden and unprovoked hostility it takes a man of stronger humility than me to not jump on the anti-gang bandwagon and label them all arseholes.

a masterful piece of investigative journalism