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Better Than Sex (The Gonzo Papers #4)

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 2,907 ratings · 96 reviews

"Hunter S. Thompson is to drug-addled, stream-of-consciousness, psycho-political black humor what Forrest Gump is to idiot savants."
The Philadelphia Inquirer Since his 1972 trailblazing opus, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Hunter S. Thompson has reported the election story in his truly inimitable, just-short-of-libel style. In Better than Sex, Thompson hits the dusty trail againwithout leaving homeyet manages to deliver a mind-bending view of the 1992 presidential campaignin all of its horror, sacrifice, lust, and dubious glory. Complete with faxes sent to and received by candidate Clinton's top aides, and 100 percent pure gonzo screeds on Richard Nixon, George Bush, and Oliver North, here is the most true-blue campaign tell-all ever penned by man or beast.
"[Thompson] delivers yet another of his trademark cocktail mixes of unbelievable tales and dark observations about the sausage grind that is the U.S. presidential sweepstakes. Packed with egocentric anecdotes, musings and reprints of memos, faxes and scrawled handwritten notes (Memorable."
Los Angeles Daily News
"What endears Hunter Thompson to anyone who reads him is that he will say what others are afraid to (.[He] is a master at the unlikely but invariably telling line that sums up a political figure (.In a year when all politics isto much of the publica tendentious and pompous bore, it is time to read Hunter Thompson."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"While Tom Wolfe mastered the technique of being a fly on the wall, Thompson mastered the art of being a fly in the ointment. He made himself a part of every story, made no apologies for it and thus produced far more honest reporting than any crusading member of the Fourth Estate (. Thompson isn't afraid to take the hard medicine, nor is he bashful about dishing it out (.He is still king of beasts, and his apocalyptic prophecies seldom miss their target."
Tulsa World
"This is a very, very funny book. No one can ever match Thompson in the vitriol department, and virtually nobody escapes his wrath."
The Flint Journal

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published December 9th 2000 by Transworld Pub (first published 1994)

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Jun 30, 2010 Ellen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People insanely in love with every word Thompson wrote whether it makes sense or not.

Shelves: nonfiction

Hunter S. Thompson's brain on drugs circa 1966 - 1980s

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Hunter S. Thompson's brain on drugs - 1990s - 2005

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Hunter S. Thompson's reputation won't hold up. In fairness, I did go back and read sections of Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and will acknowledge that he could often write well. Whether he ever wrote well enough to merit the adulation he's been given is questionable.

However, I was stymied by the number of reviewers who gav...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Kevin Rubin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is Hunter Thompson's coverage of the 1992 U.S. Presidential campaign and elections, with some flashbacks to his own 1970 campaign for Sheriff of Aspen County in Colorado.

As usual, he jumps right in as a participant as well as a reporter, so nothing he writes is even remotely unbiased, an lots of probably fictionalized incidents. In this case, he brings a group of Rolling Stone editors to Little Rock to meet with Bill Clinton and from there on refers to Clinton's campaign as "we" including...more

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Jun 21, 2009 Mark Young rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"No wonder the poor bastards from Generation X have lost their sense of humor about politics. Some things are not funny to the doomed..."

Though he tried desperately to avoid it, Hunter S. Thompson in this book again casts himself into the pit of despair that is modern politics. It is "Fear and Loathing" all over again, but this time on the Campaign Trail '92. He was lured in partly by his hatred of Bush and the hope that he could be beaten, and partly because of his addiction to politics; the q...more "No wonder the poor bastards from Generation X have lost their sense of humor about politics. Some things are not funny to the doomed..."

Though he tried desperately to avoid it, Hunter S. Thompson in this book again casts himself into the pit of despair that is modern politics. It is "Fear and Loathing" all over again, but this time on the Campaign Trail '92. He was lured in partly by his hatred of Bush and the hope that he could be beaten, and partly because of his addiction to politics; the quick highs, the cheap rush that is better than sex.

Luckily for us, Hunter S. hadn't lost any of the weirdness, the paranoid edge, the rabid fervour and passion that made his "gonzo" journalism so different. He may have done a few less drugs, shot a few less typewriters, but he hadn't lost his anger. Better Than Sex is the account of a desperate man trying "to control his environment" the only way he knows how. His mission: get rid of Bush at all costs. To accomplish this, he reverses his initial support of Clinton in favour of Ross Perot's campaign after Clinton claims "he never inhaled" (a plain outrage to an admitted "inhaler" like H.S.T.) only to return to support of Clinton when he was asked to sign an undated letter of resignation for Mr. Perot, whom he later referred to as a "wretched, shit-eating little swine." It was plainly a case of wanting to vote for the "not-Bush" candidate, or, as the author puts it, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

And so in a barrage of faxes, articles, memos to editors, and intoxicated diatribes in campaign stop bars, Thompson perpetrates his war on Bush, never stopping to contemplate whether Clinton will be any better. There are some hilariously ill-advised faxes to the Vice-President of CNN, the campaign manager for Clinton, one to Hillary herself--Hunter S. is a faxaholic, and he generally just sends off the first thing that comes to mind, often faxing again later to apologize for the outrage of the previous fax. It is funny stuff, often hand-written, and all are included in their original form.

After the euphoria of the Bush loss wears off, the author is given to brooding about the times to come, even musing that the Republicans might have deliberately chosen to take Bush down so as to avoid responsibility for the death throes of the American economy which are surely to come; let Clinton take the fall for Reaganomics and have a new man ready for '96. Not very far-fetched.

But then again, Hunter S. was always a political doom-sayer. The original Fear and Loathing was that of Nixon, whose death was cause for a brutal eulogy in the last section of this book. Hunter digs him up and stomps on his corpse. The original gonzo journalism sprung out of a hatred for Nixon. On the campaign trail in '72, all he could think about was getting rid of him. Then with The Great Shark Hunt, Thompson lamented the fact that there were no Great Leaders left. Not the kind of career politicians who run for office today, but the kind of man who was elected to office by a swell of popular support, because of his strength of character, his integrity, ingenuity, and ability to lead.

So Gonzo journalism comes full circle, with an intense fear and loathing of Bush and everything he stands for, and a farewell to his old nemesis Richard Nixon. He got rid of both, and yet he still despairs for the future. The "Great Shark Hunt" continues...

"Historians do not call the final ten years of any century 'the Decadence" for no reason. It is always a doomed and dissolute time, and the end of the American Century will be no different... Generation X got off easy compared to the hideous fate of the poor bastards in Generation Z. They will be like steerage passengers on the S.S. Titanic, trapped in the watery bowels of a sinking 'unsinkable ship.'" In retrospect, those were prophetic words.
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Apr 27, 2013 Missy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, extreme-drug-trip

The Basics

A non-fiction (well mostly) account of the 1992 presidential election. With emphasis on Thompson’s perspective.

My Thoughts

I’m not a politically-minded person. I know no one likes to hear that, and I don’t like saying it, but I’ve never really understood having an obsession with politics. Even Thompson, in this book, bemoans the fact that it’s an addiction he’d like to kick. Really it’s because it’s depressing, and I think Thompson got to the root of another reason why politics doesn’t...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Dustin Gaughran rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was probably a mistake to read this immediately after 'Campaign Trail. '72'. My expectations were set considerably high, considering how great 'Campaign Trail' was. Although 'Better than Sex' has it's moments (especially the end on Richard Nixon), by and large the majority of the book felt forced. Half assed, even. There are parts worth remembering, sure. But it's mostly a collection of letters he sent to various people involved in the Clinton campaign. Some of them are funny. Some aren't. To...more

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Jan 05, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some say that the high obtained from a successful political campaign is “better than sex,” but not Hunter S. Thompson. He was certainly a political campaign junkie, but even Thompson couldn’t place politics above carnal pleasure. And he would know a thing or two about politics, having ran for Sheriff (on the “Freak Power” vote - losing by a slim margin) in Pitkin County, Colorado and closely following and reporting on the 1972 Presidential Campaign.

I have almost completed reading the Thompson ca...more

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May 05, 2009 D.M. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hunter Thompson was one of a kind. I can scarcely recall a time of my life when he was not a presence in it. His suicide was something I felt as though he were someone I'd known, and his absence is something that will last.
I don't know how I missed this book when it originally came out, and just picked it up at a charity shop for 3 quid. I have to say, that's about what it was worth.
This was all about him and his slight connection to the Bill Clinton presidential campaign. It clearly attempts to...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Bobby rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the only writing from Hunter that didn't get 5 stars from me. (And that incluses Screwjack.) Aside from being disjointed, it is completely unneccessary.

The publishing company, or Playboy or whoever it was that commisioned him to write it were trying to catch lightning in a bottle. His Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72, is considered by many to be the most honest telling of what it is like to be on the inside of a political campaign.

There is nothing in "Better Than Sex" (abou...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Benjamin Sobieck rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are two kinds of Hunter S. Thompson fans: Those who get Gonzo tattoos over spring break and those who read his political stuff, like this book.

It's the former who embrace the drug-addled mythology of the man. The latter can appreciate the brilliant writer and social commentator the world lost to suicide in 2005.

Although I was just a young lad in '92, I still find his letters and essays fascinating. He knew how the real political process worked better than anyone else.

Those who want Gonzo...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Enty Quadrophenia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A contentious Presidential race, a population weary of years of Republican domination that have left the country in the grip of a recession, the rise of a previously obscure Democrat who goes from the underdog to the poll leader and eventually to the presidency . . . and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” leading the pop charts. No, this isn’t 2008, but 1992, the year that the senior George Bush was ousted by a saxophone-playing governor from Arkansas, and the year that Hunter S. Thompso...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It has been too long, too dry, too boring, back to Gonzo...

Aptly sub-labeled "Confessions of a Political Junkie," Hunter delves into the political hysteria of the 1992 presidential race. He dives into the realms of personality and character beyond the generic banter of other reporters and news agencies.

His appeal is unsurpassed, whether you agree with him or not, you're consumed by his writing. Reality and fantasy mesh into his reality and shape his perceptions of this political world.

The most i...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Barbara added it · review of another edition

oh my god..this is hysterical and picks up with the Clinton campaign in 92

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Feb 13, 2009 A. Gamble rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are no words fond enough to describe Thompson's writing. I blazed through this book, and I think anyone else would, too.

HST makes a great point about outgoing political parties leaving their problems for the next president. I wonder if he would have thought that Bush Jr. left his problems for Obama like Bush Sr. did for Clinton. I also wish he would have stayed alive long enough to see Obama elected. There will never be another political junkie like Thompson, and journalism is less vital f...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gosh, do I miss HST. He would have loved this politidal season.

This book, written in 1994, details (sort of) the 1992 presidential campaign, but really it serves as a larger meditation on campaign junkiedom and the looming political black hole on the horizon for the new millennium. He was so ahead of his time about so many things, but especially the ruthlessness and singular desire to win shared by Bill and Hill. If I would have read this when it came out, I probably would have dismissed a lot...more

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Dec 06, 2007 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For a books following the 1992 presidential race, this one is surprisingly righteous. Or maybe not so surprisingly so. I thought that maybe because the politics were so closely removed from the present, that it would suffer for it, but it didn't, partially because THE SAME PEOPLE ARE STILL HANGING AROUND WASHINGTON (there's a pretty f-ing brilliant pic of George II in there, sticking his tongue out at the camera), and partially because Hunter S. Thompson is hilarious - and I think always had tim...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Graham Oliver rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Thompson is over-published, which is part of the problem with this book. A lot of it I had already read or heard through his magazine pieces, his documentary, or his letter collection.

There is good stuff in here, but it's not his best collection, and you can see the same stuff in other sources.

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Mar 04, 2009 Suzy Walker added it · review of another edition

The disjointed writing of HST is offset by the realness of the situations. As I was only twelve during the bush/clinton election it was interesting to see what attitudes to politics were like then and what predictions for the future of american politics were being made.

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Sep 13, 2012 George Leach rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hunter's view on the 1992 Presidental election dominates this book but rather than his usual task of hitting the campaign trial, he does most of this from his home, albeit with access to some people you and me would never get within 100 yards of, probably to keep out of Mr. Bill's Neighbourhood and avoid the death of fun. Usual vicious, hillarious and accurate politial insight. It's worth purchasing for the last chapter on the death of his arch-nemesis Richard Nixon alone which features the comp...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hunter S. Thompson is the single most important political writer in my lifetime. His perspective is just as explosively wild as modern capitalistic Republican logic.

I knew I was a politcal junkie before I read this title. This book sealed the deal.

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Aug 07, 2009 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it

Read this in three days. It was good and pleasant and an easy read. Funny and entertaining, nothing too heavy. A nice light read after slogging through (and enjoying, but it was still a slog) the Glass Bead Game for three months.

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Dec 03, 2012 Adam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think you can really "get" this book unless you were there. Looking at all these events, post hoc, through Doc Thompson's eyes is like reliving these events again, interpreting them in a whole new way.

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Dec 17, 2010 Alan Keelan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It wasn't what I expected. HST's style is enjoyable and gaining perspective on the '92 election was enlightening. I assume I know what happened in the '90s, but really I didn't get my head out of the sand until 2000. James Carville is crazy

I skimmed the end, onto FALILV.

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Jan 29, 2009 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Thompson always entertains me with his books, and this one is no exception. A take on the 1993 campaign trail that I had not yet heard. As usual, I actually got a few history lessons along the way.

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Aug 18, 2012 Bill Bleuel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While not among his best (Thompson has this annoying habit of teasing with a theme he will "get back to later" and NEVER does), this is still good enough to throw foaming-at-the-mouth authoritarian zealots into apoplectic seizures (which, I'm positive, the mere mention of whom will get me banned for life from the feeds of certain Nazi-sympathizing pederast apologists). Campaign '92 was not particularly interesting and even the good doctor can't make it so, but his obituary of Richard Nixon is a...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Jeff rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book full of notes and faxes to the Democratic Party??? And they published this? What, did he really need the money enough to subject the reader to this moronic, drug-addled mess?

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Dec 10, 2008 Tattered Cover Book Store added it · review of another edition

Recommended to Tattered Cover by: Dave E

Shelves: staff-recommends

Guest starring James Carville, Ted Turner and Richard Nixon as the
Devil, the story of the "92 (Clinton v. Bush) campaign, complete with
actual faxes.

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Mar 04, 2012 Joshua rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bill's Clinton's strange seizures, President Bush setting things on fire during a debate and then howling like a wolf in triumph, a death sentence for Dr. Thompson for mistaken identity. Gonzo journalism, pure and simple Bubba.

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Aug 08, 2011 Michelle added it · review of another edition

This book has its ups and downs, slow moments and unforgettable ones. Fortunately, the gems are worth slogging through the less gripping parts.

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Sep 27, 2009 Lydia Gurevich rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite

Second favorite Hunter S. Thompson book. I'm a huge politics nerd, so I pretty much worship this book about the 1992 American presidential election.

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Jul 10, 2009 Harish Venkatesan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this is a hilarious read (especially in retrospect), illuminating when considering HST's reflections on a young bill and hillary clinton

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About Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author, famous for his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become the central figures of their stories. He is also known for his promotion and use of psychedelics and other mind-altering substanc...more

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Books by Hunter S. Thompson

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time

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Better Than Sex (The Gonzo Papers #4)

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