[BOOKS] Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone

A new book, to be released at the end of this month, collects of many of Hunter S. Thompson's articles published in RollIng Stone magazine.  "Buy the ticket, take the ride," was a favorite slogan of Hunter S. Thompson, and it pretty much defined both his work and his life. Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone showcases the roller-coaster of a career at the magazine that was his literary home. Jann S. Wenner, the outlaw journalist's friend and editor for nearly thirty-five years, has assembled articles that begin with Thompson's infamous run for sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Party ticket in 1970 and end with his final piece on the Bush-Kerry showdown of 2004. In between is Thompson's remarkable coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign—a miracle of journalism under pressure—and plenty of attention paid to Richard Nixon, his bÊte noire; encounters with Muhammad Ali, Bill Clinton, and the Super Bowl; and a lengthy excerpt from his acknowledged masterpiece, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Woven throughout is selected correspondence between Wenner and Thompson, most of it never before published. It traces the evolution of a personal and professional relationship that helped redefine modern American journalism, and also presents Thompson through a new prism as he pursued his lifelong obsession: The life and death of the American Dream. Purchase the book here. 

Fear & Loathing in San Juan: The Rum Diaries

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Its a tale all too Hunter Stockton Thompson. In 1958 he completed his first novel, The Rum Diary - he was in his late 20s.  Letters around this time, Hunter Thompson was a voracious letter writer - he kept a carbon copy of almost every letter he ever wrote since his teens and lasted until his suicide at 67 as some kind of obsessive, seemingly feverish, prophetic preservation of his legacy, before and after completion of the Rum Diary,  paint  a Hunter Thompson excited about finishing his first, real novel - after hopscotching from one one horse town newspaper to the next throughout much of his early journalistic career. But letters also show the harsh side of rejection and many letters to the effect from editors, as well as replies back from Thompson with belligerent threats of murder, revenge and spilled teeth.  The Rum Diary tells the tale of a young American journalist disillusioned by a hopelessly bland America under Eisenhower who moves to a pristine San Juan, Puerto Rico to work for a flailing newspaper and becomes obsessed with a young blonde fiancee of a cohort. Its a tale all to Hunter Thomson: reportage of the strange world from behind the bullet proof glass of his own conciousness, a consciousness too big in a world that at same time made him feel so small. Rum soaked and covered in white tropical sand, The Rum Diary is a tale of bliss and abandon from a young writer finding his voice at the apex of an entirely American 20th century, groping madly for the American dream up the fuzzy blouse of some young, dumb secretary.  The Rum Diary wasn't published until 1998, nearly 50 years after it was completed.  This October, a film, entitled The Rum Diary, will bring this incredible book to to the silver screen.