false 7745 39 Heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the <I>New York Times Book Review</I>, Hunter S. Thompson's documented drug orgy through Las Vegas would no doubt leave Nancy Reagan blushing and D.A.R.E. founders rethinking their motto. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In its trunk, they stow "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls," which they manage to consume during their short tour. <p> On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the drug-a-delic duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help." For Thompson to remember and pen his experiences with such clarity and wit is nothing short of a miracle; an impressive feat no matter how one feels about the subject matter. A first-rate sensibility twinger, <I>Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</I> is a pop-culture classic, an icon of an era past, and a nugget of pure comedic genius. <I>--Rebekah Warren</I> 1309111 book 1971 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream total:19343|5:8043|4:6977|3:3232|2:824|1:267| 19343 79734 24332 1384 5 13 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Wed Sep 12 18:22:41 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 16:28:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 5 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 11 21:46:27 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 07 09:33:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Wed Jan 02 13:22:24 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 02 13:43:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 3 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Fri Mar 09 13:52:19 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 09 13:57:57 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Wed Jun 27 23:23:26 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 23:34:49 -0700 2007
This book is amazing. This counter culture classics is one of my favorites.

Often criticized (alternately praise...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 12:34:44 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 12:42:31 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jun 30 11:52:49 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 30 12:02:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Mon Jul 02 01:54:27 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 15 00:34:40 -0700 2008 starts out strong, best opening sequence ever
doing fast miles on the highway while carelessly handling very expensive drugs....
he jeers/jaunts at the locals, the money,
the shabby run down two-bit nature of it all
he hits the bar, the dirt ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jun 08 19:12:09 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 08 19:12:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jun 24 16:02:22 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 09:10:11 -0700 2007 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has a special place in my library as my first exposure to any kind of counterculture. I was raised in rural Indiana where dissension from the norm was not tolerated. At the time, Hunter S. Thompson's extreme rejection of everything that America stood for—particularly...more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1983 Thu Feb 19 07:11:43 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 07:17:03 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1994 Sat Mar 08 10:25:31 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 08 10:32:35 -0800 2008
Hunter sent me looking for characters who I could relate to - ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 12:30:46 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 14:29:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Mar 06 12:46:24 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 12:47:35 -0800 2009 5 1 false false Sun Oct 28 09:05:57 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 02 13:03:32 -0700 2009
(removed from unfinished reads category)

***

So far, hilarious. Strikes me as odd that I've not been able to get beyond the first few pages in previous readings. Was in the biography section of the library - and is ab...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 13:13:04 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 13:20:49 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jul 12 02:17:35 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 02:51:16 -0700 2007 On the surface the book chronicles the journey of two hedonists on a drug fueled rampage. A wild ride. Digging deeper Thompson manages to chronicle a critical season of transition in American cultur...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 1992 Thu Aug 23 14:13:51 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 14:16:27 -0700 2007 Planet. Riding that mortal carousel cranked full-speed sometimes the ride would flare into de...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 29 16:48:57 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 17:02:23 -0700 2009 (I read this book as a sorbet between long periods of reading Shadow Country by Peter Matthiesen; Fear and Loathing's flights of gross anarchy c...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 03 14:13:50 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 14:13:50 -0800 2009 American Dream without really understanding it's full implications. I will be the first to recognize that no one can really pin down the ...more...]]>