Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's
by Hunter S. Thompson
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Read in August, 1995
recommended to Jared by:
Tip O'Neilrecommends it for: naysayers, patriots and whistle-blowers...you know who you are.
This was one of the first HST books I read and I have re-read it several times. I find that the more distance is gained between the 80's and now the funnier it gets.
"Generation of Swine" could possibly be the best three words to summarize the 80's political machine ever. The book is full of tales about sex, scandal, deception, paranoia, and blissful ignorance...and that is all before you get into mentioning ANYTHING about HST.
From the tattoo for HST's assistant at the very open...more
"Generation of Swine" could possibly be the best three words to summarize the 80's political machine ever. The book is full of tales about sex, scandal, deception, paranoia, and blissful ignorance...and that is all before you get into mentioning ANYTHING about HST.
From the tattoo for HST's assistant at the very open...more
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Read in February, 2008
The fascinating thing about reading Hunter's essays is all the lost episodes of history and the realization that over time events that are so important for a single moment vanish.
This collection focuses mainly on 1984 through 1988 and the fall of Reganism. At the beginning of 1987 Regan was a lame duck president - Gart Hart was the savior of Democracy - and Ollie North and George Bush the First were looking like they had to prepare for 10-20 years behind bars.
Of course the frightening conclu...more
This collection focuses mainly on 1984 through 1988 and the fall of Reganism. At the beginning of 1987 Regan was a lame duck president - Gart Hart was the savior of Democracy - and Ollie North and George Bush the First were looking like they had to prepare for 10-20 years behind bars.
Of course the frightening conclu...more
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I picked up a used copy of this book a few years ago. I bought it because it was cheap (and so am I!) and I had really enjoyed reading HST's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I was in primary school during the 80s, and it's not a decade that we ever had enough time to cover in history courses I took later, so I don't know much about the politics of the era. HST, by contrast, seems intimately familiar with the major players. In...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Fans of the Good Doctor.
While Hunter remains one of my all time favorite king-hell madman writer's, Generation of Swine is not his best work. I've never made any systematic study of his writing, but it's my impression that he dropped off substantially somewhere around 1980. Drugs eventually take their toll- even on a professional user such as HST.
All of which is not to say that he doesn't still crank out some good lines and graphs; "The heavy hand of The Law has caught up with almost everybody, and ev...more
All of which is not to say that he doesn't still crank out some good lines and graphs; "The heavy hand of The Law has caught up with almost everybody, and ev...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
freaks
typical humor of Thompson, but he's limited by length a lot (these are all articles for the progressive SF newspaper "The Examiner" and thus all about 3 pages long) so there is not a lot of depth to the content, and there's a bit of overlap to some of the articles too which makes some of the jokes fall flat when you've heard them two times already. But I did learn a lot about the politics of '86 and '87 that I didn't really know, and it reaffirmed by utter disdain for American democrac
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Read in January, 1907
recommends it for:
anyone who wants to be cool.
this book is hilariuos.
simply a variety of short story's of Thompson's scatter brain discriptions of random situations.
Hunter S. Thompson is known for his edgy Gonzo Journalism
although his most popular journalism is about his experience's in the drug world through the late 20th century.
in most of his Journalism he doesn't quite suggest that he was under the influence of anything at the time of the occurance.......eh I'll finish this later
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Read in January, 2000
I bet this book would be way better if I knew really anything at all about politics in the 80's. Or, if I had even just been an adult in the 80's. Since I don't/wasn't, I basically gave this three stars on writing style alone. I love Thompson's creativity and the seemingly arbitrary way he connects ideas to prove a point. I think I have a million sentences underlined in this book b/c I thought they were so clever.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
those interested in revisiting the not so distant past
Seems like such a long time ago but not much has really changed. I was a child in the 80s and so I only got a vague sense of what was going on in the world. And history classes never seemed to go past the Vietnam War. This book is a good way to get the real dirt on the events of that time period. And of course Thompson's life is all wrapped up in there too which provides many entertaining situations.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2007
Perfect NYC read. I think Hunter is warping my brain...
"There are bonfires on a lot of hillsides tonight, the sounds of drums and wild hooting, people with serious scores to settle muttering at each other in the darkness. The yahoos are out there, and they think their time has come."
"There are bonfires on a lot of hillsides tonight, the sounds of drums and wild hooting, people with serious scores to settle muttering at each other in the darkness. The yahoos are out there, and they think their time has come."
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Read in December, 2007
Hunter isn't as unhinged here as in his earlier, more famous writings, which means this collection leans more toward cynical political commentary than wacked-out "bad craziness." Still, a lot of his assessments on the state of 1980s America are pretty-dead on. Swine, indeed.
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Read in January, 2005
The wheels kind of fall off on this one. A slightly uninspired period...some of his stuff seems to be an cheap imitation of his best work. Not bad by a long stretch, but if you read a large chunk of Hunter's writings at once, this one is bound to sound like the clinker.
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
definitely
this book is hunter at his best - crazy and rambling. it's a bit hard to follow in places but for the most part it's a direct look into this man's soul. the 80's were a crazy time in america and as a journalist, he covered some of the biggest events of that decade.
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Read in April, 2007
Didn't have much of a point, just a ton of short stories no longer than a few pages filling the book. Just a lot of random story telling during the presidential election when Reagan was voted in. (Jumps around 3 or so years from short story to short story)
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Read in January, 2008
"There is no need for the president of the United States to be smart. He can be hovering on the grim cusp of brain death and still be the most powerful man in the world." - H.S.T.
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Read in January, 2008
Recommended, along with What It Takes, for contemporaries of mine who want to know what was happening to the world while we were learning to tie our shoes.
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Very entertaining reading. I enjoy Thompson's collections of short works more than his novels, because the novels seem to me to unravel 3/4 of the way through.
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
people who can take the harsh truth
The worst Thompson book is still better than a lot of stuff out there. You can't always count on the good Dr. Gonzo to entertain and enlighten.
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
freaks
My first foray into Hunter S.
His writing is raw and real and in your face.
Great insights into the run-up to the 1988 elections.
His writing is raw and real and in your face.
Great insights into the run-up to the 1988 elections.
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Once again, read half and put it down. Will pick up again soon. Funny, yet intriguing, introspectice gonzo.
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Read in June, 1999
recommends it for:
the usual suspects
hunter in the 1980's. not his best work, but then what can you expect from such low-grade material?
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.67 (731 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.68 (682 ratings) number of reviews: 32popular shelves
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quote
"There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die."
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