false 10878 9 In addition to being a testament to the undeniably beatifying properties of American excess--literary, political, chemical, you name it--Hunter Thompson is the high priest of the ad hominem attack. Anyone unlucky enough to get in the way of his satirical sledgehammer will end up with soup for brains. Still, even Thompson needs a good villain to get properly lathered up; that's why he peaked simultaneously with America's 37th president, Richard Milhous Nixon. Tricky Dick was Thompson's dark-jowled, pale-calved Muse, and with his departure Thompson seemed to lose his place a bit. Swatting flies with a baseball bat. <p> You need look no further for this writer's best: this collection of pieces, first published in 1979, spans all of Thompson's primo era, including short pieces and selections from longer works. <I>The Great Shark Hunt</I> sports a few articles filed by a pre-Gonzo Hunter S. Thompson, which show flickers of passion but no real fire; the first experiments with the author's drug-fueled brand of journalism at the Kentucky Derby; and finally the gigs that made him an American institution, in Las Vegas and on the 1972 campaign trail.<p> Thompson's style is so unique that a reader is tempted to think that he leapt, fully formed, into Gonzohood. However, along with the crazy, careening prose itself, one of the auxiliary pleasures of <I>The Great Shark Hunt</I> is the map that it gives of Thompson's ascent (or descent, if you prefer) from the workaday hyperbole of sports writing to the hell-blast vigor of his later work. The drugs are, by and large, a distraction--lifestyle points that get in the way of the genuinely perceptive journalism that Thompson created. (But they are there, always, and in quantity.) If you're looking for insight into the underbelly of America, Hunter S. Thompson is your best and only guide, and <I>The Great Shark Hunt</I> is an excellent place to begin the grim safari. <I>--Michael Gerber</I> 1005676 1979 The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time total:2268|5:694|4:952|3:554|2:60|1:8| 2268 9068 2972 123 4 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 10:50:47 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 05:57:39 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 1990 Wed Mar 05 10:41:21 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 10:45:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu May 21 14:05:09 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 14:05:09 -0700 2009


The STOP SMILING Downfall of American Publishing Issue dedicates 40 pages to an oral history of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, which includes interviews with collaborators and friends such as Ralph Steadman, Craig Vetter, wife Anita Thompson, PJ O'Rourke, and more.

About the i...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Dec 17 18:18:51 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 18:20:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 09 13:05:33 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 13:06:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 13 08:28:25 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 05:42:34 -0700 2008 about him writing in the letters collections. It's pretty rare and amazing to get to see both sides. The letters he was writing were to friends and collaborators, editors and publishers, talking about what he w...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 19 09:23:17 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 09:26:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 true false Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 22:24:34 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 22:56:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 14:17:30 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 14:26:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Dec 18 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Nov 29 12:03:01 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 29 12:07:05 -0800 2008 2 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Feb 22 21:26:53 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 22:30:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1980 Sun Sep 23 23:33:43 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 23:33:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 00:36:21 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 09:33:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Jul 07 12:29:22 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 11:09:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Aug 15 17:34:09 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 17:49:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1996 Wed Sep 19 16:03:35 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 19 16:09:10 -0700 2007 fear and loathing bits from Las Vegas, the Kentucky Derby, Hells Angels, and time covering the Nixon campaign trail. He is so wild in his personal life as well as his writing, and it...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 06 09:03:33 -0800 2009 Thu May 21 07:42:50 -0700 2009 This book is a collection of articles that were written during the 60’s and 70’s and published in newspapers and Rolling Stone magazine. The passages are written opinions and experiences of Thompson; they include articles about sports, politics, and events he attended and personal experie...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 09:48:43 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 09:50:31 -0700 2009 5 0 true false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun May 17 07:42:54 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 07:51:09 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 08 09:50:15 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 09:50:15 -0700 2009