[net.books] Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loat

ahearn@convexs.UUCP (12/12/85)

For an even more twisted sample of Thompson, I'd highly 
reccommend _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail_,
Hunter's classic account of the `72 McGovern campaign.
The book opens, as I remember, with Thompson and cronies
plotting to ambush Chuck Colson and drag him down Pennsylvania
Avenue with a rope tied to his... well, you get the idea.
All strangeness aside, though, the book is well-done and
acutely intelligent. (Also killing coverage of his conversation
at the urinal with Richard Nixon.)

Early Thompson, of interest to hard-core Thompson fans, is
_Hell's Angels_, subtitled I believe the Strange and Terrible
Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. That book ends with Thompson
nearly kicked to death by Sonny Barger and friends.

Late, not so great Thompson, is _The Great Shark Hunt_, which
finds Thompson in Hawaii at monsoon time locked into booze,
sans amphetamines. 


---------------------------------------------
I don't know much about music, but I've got an ear for the high
white sound

              --Thompson, Shark Hunt

render@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (12/12/85)

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is a great read, as is Thompson's book on the 
1972 presidential campaign, FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL.  I also
highly recommend THE GREAT SHARK HUNT, a collection of Hunter S. Thompson's
work from the early magazine pieces to the classics from the 70's.  The book
is a must for any fan of his work in Rolling Stone.  Now if we could only get
him to start producing big-time again.


                                     Hal Render
                                     University of Illinois
                                     {pur-ee, ihnp4} ! uiucdcs ! render
                                     render@uiuc.csnet 
                                     render@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU

custead@sask.UUCP (Der cuss) (12/16/85)

> Late, not so great Thompson, is _The Great Shark Hunt_, which
> finds Thompson in Hawaii at monsoon time locked into booze,
> sans amphetamines. 
> 

Not quite.  You are thinking of "The Curse of Lono", HST's most
recent book, and not up to his best stuff.  "The Great Shark
Hunt" is an anthology, described recently in this group.
("Lono" is still recommended for die-hard Thompson fans, but
read everything else first...)

				L. Custead
				U of Saskatchewan

nunes@utai.UUCP (Joe Nunes) (12/19/85)

> Late, not so great Thompson, is _The Great Shark Hunt_, which
> finds Thompson in Hawaii at monsoon time locked into booze,
> sans amphetamines. 

The book you are referring to is _The Curse of Lono_.
_The Great Shark Hunt_ is actually an excellent collection of
essays and articles.