Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I found this book in college, and at the time, I thought it was the most unique book I had ever read.

Thompson’s “Gonzo Journalism” was fresh, funny, and thought-provoking, with a subtext of modern poetry, political activism, and a sense of humor I have never seen replicated.

This wild, uproarious classic still makes me laugh out loud when I read it, though I must have been through it eight or ten times. And while it’s darkly funny, that’s not even the best thing about it.

This book gives an intimate portrait of early-seventies drug culture, as well as American society and its political realities, in real-time. There’s no sense of distance or retrospection, except when he thinks about the countercultural explosion of a few years earlier. He sees it nostalgically and clearly sees its demise. Not everyone will agree with his assessment of that demise, but his… show more.

Hunter S. Thompson’s books tend to have a lot of drug use in them. So do mine, although not at nearly the same scale. The way Thompson describes the drug use and deranged behavior associated with it is powerful and equal parts tragedy and comedy.

More than anything, Thompson’s cracking prose brings the debauchery to life and makes it relatable to anyone who ever may have gone one toke over the line. I used to give this book to friends who hadn’t cracked a book since high school and told them, “Just read the first page.” Every single one of… show more.

Thompson’s work is synonymous with the term “gonzo journalism,” and so technically, this isn’t exactly a novel. It’s not really journalism in the normal sense, either. It lives in a weird bardo state between psychedelic delusion and incisive political critique.

What I most appreciate about Thompson’s prose is how, no matter his state of mind during his reportage, he never lets up on his intense commitment to capture every observation—no matter how lurid, terrifying, or dismaying it may be. In this regard, he’s the ideal journalist: rigorously honest with the reader, even when he’s meticulously charting his own downward spiral… show more.

I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in college and it blew my mind. I’d never read anything like this outrageous tale of a journalist in search of the American Dream. The plot: Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone send Thompson to Las Vegas to cover, respectively, a motorcycle race and a district attorneys convention. Thompson, high on hallucinogenic drugs and ether, and with his attorney in tow, takes the notion of “new journalism” into a hilarious new dimension. Thompson was the kind of journalist I wanted to be: a truth-teller who made his own rules. I’ve since read the book… show more.

More America. More drugs. Go together naturally, dontcha think, like love and marriage. Hunter Thompson, inventor of gonzo journalism, takes a chemically-enhanced trip through America’s own heart of darkness: Las Vegas. Bats swoop down from the sky, slot machines say howdy, parti-colored reptiles slither in and out of the rooms, people turn into monsters, monsters into people. Nothing is what it seems, it’s worse. The entire unbridled carnival unfurled in Thompson’s idiosyncratic but highly engaging prose style. And having said that, know this is also the lightest read on the list.

I hesitated to recommend this one because the book is gonzo, but one can’t discuss Vegas-based novels without at least mentioning it. It’s a classic, drug-soaked trip through the city – gross, appalling, yet altogether original. While not typically thought of as a crime or con novel, I’d argue it’s both - the main characters, a journalist on assignment and his attorney friend, do nothing but con their way through a drug-fueled haze, destroying cars and hotel rooms while somehow not managing to get arrested or kill themselves. I hated it, but I held my nose and read it anyway… show more.

The world was panicking about the unknown effects of a calendar rolling over from 1999 to a new century, when all electrical capabilities could disintegrate, plunging us into digital darkness. Immune to the Y2K bug, I headed to Nevada, determined to experience my own Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. The Raoul Duke to my Dr. Gonzo, was a bad-ass drummer: part Native American, part black American, 100% goth and rocking a lime-green mohawk. We stumbled through the casinos with their vibrant décor - swirling carpets that seemed determined to trip us up – and out into the cool night…

Hunter S. Thompson is one of the best American writers of the last fifty years, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the pinnacle of his writing. I return to this book every few years, and I’m always amazed at his ability to convey the depiction of a drug-fueled frenzy. This cult classic of gonzo journalism follows the journey of Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo as they travel to Las Vegas in search of the American Dream, all while consuming almost every narcotic known to man. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Speaking of drugs, let’s talk about Hunter S. Thompson. For me, this seminal work rooted in 1960s counter culture is more about how to write like yourself than a misguided road trip on drugs. Thompson’s voice is so uniquely brazen; he writes his story with the same grittiness that the best rock autobiographies possess. It’s an amazing example of how much a journalist can insert himself into the topic he’s covering. It breaks the cardinal rule of objective journalism, but in doing so, tells a true story of its own.