The Gonzo Papers Anthology

The Gonzo Papers #1-3

by Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson was the creator of a new kind of journalism and invented a new style of writing. Gonzo was a wild often drug- and drink-fuelled adventure, in which Thompson examined the politics, people, and values of his times.

In the three great collections of Gonzo writings, "The Great Shark Hunt", "Generation of Swine", and "Songs of the Doomed", he dissected the 60s, 70s, and 80s with violence, wit, anger, and occasional compassion.

Collected together for the first time, "The Gonzo Papers Anthology" is an indispensable compendium of decadence, depravity, and a remarkably skewed common sense.

'No other reporter reveals how much we have to fear and loathe, yet does it so hilariously' Nelson Algren

Genres: Nonfiction, Journalism, Biography, History, Politics

1238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Hunter Stockton Thompson (1937-2005) 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 substances (and to a lesser extent, alcohol and firearms), his libertarian views, and his iconoclastic contempt for authority. He committed suicide in 2005.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volumes comprises The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine and Songs of the Doomed. It isn't HST's collected journalism reprinted in book form - Better than Sex, Kingdom of Fear and Hey Rube aren't included.

The book raises a simple question: how best to represent HST's work? The answer is: some way other than this.

What was really needed was a greatest hits. All the strongest pieces should have been included (along with HST's brutal obituary for Richard Nixon, curiously not in this volume), set out in chronological order, with all filler, copy faxes and other marginilia excised.

[Malcolmaffleck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review - as a collection of articles, it suffers overall from the fact that some - for instance, the description of riding his motorbike through Californian highways (which is printed twice in the book, due to the anthology being made up of three different books) is an outstanding piece of writing, whilst some - the article listing the freebies he manages to have got from the Solider of Fortune trade show are simply a waste of time. So, some of the articles are 5 star, some 4, some 3, some 2 and some 1. Overall, a 3 star book but if you only want to read some of the articles the following are pretty much essential:

Kentucky Derby Article (to see the start of Gonzo journalism)
Articles on Life with the Hell's Angels (including the aforementioned description of motorbike riding, which Hunter S Thompson claimed was his favourite piece of writing)
Articles on Life with the chicanos - don't know if that is politically correct anymore!

However, if you do read the whole thing, it does become interesting at the end as the final section of the book includes Hunter S Thompson's own overview of the events, and random occurrences earlier in the book are mentioned, making it feel like a story you have heard almost first hand.

[Omar El Jundi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an anthology of anthologies and maybe a bit excessive if you just want to get acquainted with Hunter S. Thompson's writing.

I did enjoy it overall and felt I got to know the man. I'll grant that he was a talented writer, a unique journalist but also a very flawed character. And his flaws only come across because he put it all out there in writing and that's something to be grateful for.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as Thompson papers go, this is surely an essential! A huge book, but worth it if you are interested in Thompsons backlist, with a few very interesting extras aswell.

[matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

ongelofelijk

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

All great stuff...