Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72
by Hunter S. Thompson
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Read in March, 2008
From Hillary to how we eat, this cruel prose, now 36-years-old, is still as relevant and incisive as it ever was. Everyone deserves a dose of HST’s literary LSD-25 These Days, the ol’ fear and loathing. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 is a raw, worthwhile Thompson-hit of black acid. So stick your tongue out.
Thompson’s political pondering is comprised mostly of the literary equivalent of adrenaline, bile, and dark humor. Until you realize that HST is being absolutely serio...more
Thompson’s political pondering is comprised mostly of the literary equivalent of adrenaline, bile, and dark humor. Until you realize that HST is being absolutely serio...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
junkies of all types; historians
I have a longstanding affection for reading books in the locations at which the books take place. I developed this interest during an apoplectic fit of maudlin sophomoricism when, at 18, I spent the summer in Paris reading everything possible connected to 20th century literature in that city (the collected volumes of Anais Nin's diaries, Henry Miller's Parisian fantasies, even that Hemingway book that only starts in Paris (The Sun Also Rises?), all those surrealist manifestos, Andre Breton's in...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Eben by:
Sarah Jamesrecommends it for: Anyone interested in American presidential politics
My familiarity with Hunter Thompson's writing to this point has mainly been based off of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and various articles about sports and motorcycles. I always thought of him as a talented if maniacal writer. What engrossed me about campaign trail was his utter fluency in the political world of his time and his almost touching concern, pessimistic as it may be, for the health of the American political system.
A key tension in the book seems to be between Hunters desire t...more
A key tension in the book seems to be between Hunters desire t...more
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This book collects Hunter's monthly dispatches from a year of following the Democrat's primaries and subsequent presidential campaign as the head of Rolling Stone's National Affairs Desk. This is the "straightest" journalism I've read from Hunter and illuminating to be reminded of how on top of it and knowledgeable he always was regardless of what he was ingesting. My advice when reading this book is to just plow through it because if you start getting hung up on all the unrecognizable...more
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Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
Political Junkies, History Buffs and Gary Hart
With the run up to the now infamous 2000 election in full swing and with Bill Clinton on his way out my interest in politics was waning severly. I didn't see how anyone could vote for the pasty faced red neck son of a former president and I knew in my heart Al Gore was a shoe in.
Once I watched along with the rest of the world in utter shock and mildy amused horror at the outcome of the afore mentioned election I dug around until I found this particular book that details Hunter S. Thompsons...more
Once I watched along with the rest of the world in utter shock and mildy amused horror at the outcome of the afore mentioned election I dug around until I found this particular book that details Hunter S. Thompsons...more
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Read in July, 2007
Coming at Hunter Thompson from the perspective that many my age probably do, viewing him as a drug addled freak scarcely able to save himself from himself through through the grace of his ways with prose, this book comes as an eye opener.
Thompson knew and genuinely cared about politics, and not solely in the sense that he hated those with whom he disagreed with. People talk a lot these days about the loss of innocence surrounding Altamont, the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin, blah fucking blah...more
Thompson knew and genuinely cared about politics, and not solely in the sense that he hated those with whom he disagreed with. People talk a lot these days about the loss of innocence surrounding Altamont, the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin, blah fucking blah...more
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Read in February, 2008
Every time I read Hunter Thompson, I wonder what people who aren't into drugs of any kind think of this dude.
Still, I can't think of another book (that I'd actually feel like reading) that takes so much care -- to the extent that one can apply that word to Thompson's work -- with the Thomas Eagleton "affair," as its referred to in the text.
(Tangentially, I find myself contemplating how difficult it would be to use the word "affair" today to describe something other t...more
Still, I can't think of another book (that I'd actually feel like reading) that takes so much care -- to the extent that one can apply that word to Thompson's work -- with the Thomas Eagleton "affair," as its referred to in the text.
(Tangentially, I find myself contemplating how difficult it would be to use the word "affair" today to describe something other t...more
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People often say "this book inspired me to do something." People associate books with taking an interest in political and philosophical issues, with career choices, and life styles.
"This book inspired me" has become such a cliché that we forget what an impact it must have had on the reader to affect his or her lives in some way.
Nonetheless, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 was huge inspiration in my decison to pursue a career in professional journalism. ...more
"This book inspired me" has become such a cliché that we forget what an impact it must have had on the reader to affect his or her lives in some way.
Nonetheless, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 was huge inspiration in my decison to pursue a career in professional journalism. ...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
This book is a hilarious and poignant take on the 1972 presidential campaign as seen through the eyes of Gonzo Journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. During this time, Dr. Thompson was the "National Affairs Editor" for Rolling Stone magazine. This book is essentially an annotated compilation of the articles he was writing for Rolling Stone during the course of the campaign. It offers a first hand account of the insane amount of thought and organization that goes into a national election. A...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anybody even slightly interested in the current election
All I can say is, "Fear and Loathing" is pretty closely associated with how I feel after reading this book. An immensely enthralling read (I read over 300 pages just today- couldn't put it down); scarily similar to the presidential race currently transpiring. The end of the book is heartbreaking; although we all know how history unfolded (4 more years of Nixon), I couldn't help but root for McGovern's campaign, senselessly and against all logic. It reminds of me how I felt four yea...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
HST Lovers in the truest form
If all you know of H.S.T. is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," this book is not for you. If you know H.S.T. as a journalist who, in his pre-gonzo years actually covered stories with less drugs and craziness, then you may be able to handle the politics of 1972.
The drugs are there, but not in the Gonzo Sense. This story is pure political. Pieced together from his articles in Rolling Stone, he follows the election like a die-hard. Despite the fact that he actually ran for Sherif...more
The drugs are there, but not in the Gonzo Sense. This story is pure political. Pieced together from his articles in Rolling Stone, he follows the election like a die-hard. Despite the fact that he actually ran for Sherif...more
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With the PA primary coming up I thought this would be appropriate to read. It is amazing to see the inner workings of the political process, and getting the first hand account is really eye opening at some times. Also, there seems to be a number of similarities between the 1972 campaign members and those running today - it's amazing how little has really changed with politicians. Tough thing about the book is not knowing most of the key players, but Thompson does a great job of really filling...more
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Read in December, 2006
Possibly the closest Thompson ever got to true journalism. This brutally in-depth examination of the 1972 presidential election is still dripping with classic Thompson, and produces some of his more hysterical moments (one in particular involved a crazed drunkard getting his hands on Thompson's press pass and almost single-handedly ruining Muskie's run at the presidency by recking havoc on his campaign train). However, as the book progresses, he seems more hell-bent on showing as accurately as p...more
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Read in April, 2005
recommends it for:
Political Junkies
This book will appeal to any politics junkie. It's amazing to track the development of the McGovern Campaign from grassroots underdog to formidable political machine to complete incapable disaster over the course of a couple hundred pages. You get the sense that the development and outcome of the election were painful to Thompson personally, as it became painful to all Americans in the months and years that followed it. It can also be laugh-out-loud funny: the scene at the Republican Conventi...more
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Read in December, 2007
I read "F&L in Las Vegas" last year and loved it, especially the under-story of the loss of hope from '69 into Nixon's 70s... and this was an excellent sort of sequel. I didn't know anything about the '72 election -- didn't know anything about McGovern, hadn't heard of Muskie, Humphrey, etc -- didn't know Wallace ran as a Democrat (!!?). There were eerie parallels with a terrible warmongering Republican incumbent outrageously winning a 2nd term... Nixon v McGovern.... George W. in ...more
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Read in March, 2008
The thing with this one is, he finds a subject that's more profane and degraded than anything he could have cooked up on his own. He just rides shotgun, clocks the fools, takes in the broken socio-politcal landscape of a country still hungover from '68. He puts himself in the story, but he also gets involved--both by aggressively acting like a bullshit exterminator, mucking up the works, but also by letting himself go, in different ways, for some of the candidates (McGovern, his weird Nixon thin...more
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Read in January, 2005
Main memory is in the break room of an old folks' home I was painting, reading about William Renquist (there's an h in there somewhere; I know it) being sworn in just as, in real time, news of his death was in the papers. Outside, it was hurricane season, and the rains were coming down in biblical proportions. A good match for the book's content.
The Doctor's magnum opus. There's a palpable sense of his broken heart, the dismay from the fallout of the Democratic Convention violence. He'd ...more
The Doctor's magnum opus. There's a palpable sense of his broken heart, the dismay from the fallout of the Democratic Convention violence. He'd ...more
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Read in September, 2004
It was fun to read this and then Spanking the Donkey by Matt Taibbi. Taibbi's book is compared to this, and to compare them here would require more than just having them fresh on my mind. It took me a couple years to get through On the Campaign Trail. But it was interesting. This was written after Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and he had purportedly given up on any type of drugs...but it's a lie. The Campaign process in '72 was insane, just as it was in 2004 from Tiabbi's perspective.
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Read in May, 1998
one of my all-time favorite books and the one that got me hooked on Hunter Thompson. an amazing juxtaposition of two seemingly opposite worlds--Thompson and the mind-blown 60's whose cynicism about the American faith had more in common with Nixon than most knew at the time. Nixon, with his diseased underbelly still hidden from most beneath gray-flannel Normal American-ness is the perfect foil for Thompson (who doesn't necessarily let McGovern off easy) and an almost scarily perfect embodiment of...more
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Read in January, 1993
The lesser-known of the F & L books, but eminently worthwhile for a political junkie. A wonderful mix of real events, real people, and surreal insights. An object lesson in the power of subjective reportage's ability to reveal truth far more effectively than formulaic neutrality. Objective reporting -- that invention of journalism schools built by corporate titans in order to neuter an excessively feisty and effective press -- gets a good scalding from the chemical burns the good Doctor sp...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.04 (1604 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.05 (1525 ratings) number of reviews: 138popular shelves
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"A lot of blood has gone under the bridge since then, and we have all learned a hell of a lot about the realities of Politics in America. Even the politicians have learned – but, as usual, the politicians are much slower than the people they want to lead."
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