Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo [Paperback]

Oscar Zeta Acosta (Author), Hunter S. Thompson (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 1989

Before his mysterious disappearance and probable death in 1971, Oscar Zeta Acosta was famous as a Robin Hood Chicano layer and notorious as the real-life model for Hunter S. Thompson's "Dr. Gonzo," a fat, pugnacious attorney with a gargantuan appetite for food, drugs, and life on the edge.

Written with uninhibited candor and manic energy, this book is Acosta's own account of coming of age as a Chicano in the psychedelic sixties, of taking on impossible cases while breaking all tile rules of courtroom conduct, and of scrambling headlong in search of a personal and cultural identity. It is a landmark of contemporary Hispanic-American literature, at once ribald, surreal, and unmistakably authentic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Immensely readable...A Chicano Manchild in the Promised Land."-- Publishers Weekly

"Acosta has entered counterculture folklore. This is the life story of a man whose pain is made real, whose roots are in question, and whose society seems to be fragmenting around him."-- Saturday Review of Literature

"The most straightforward account of a Chicano's journey in search of a dream..." - The Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

"Acosta has entered counterculture folklore. This is the life story of a man whose pain is made real, whose roots are in question, and whose society seems to be fragmenting around him."--Saturday Review of Literature

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (July 17, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679722130
• ISBN-13: 978-0679722137
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Hispanic & Latino
  • #27 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Lawyers & Judges

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good saga from a good writer, December 6, 2002

By 

Michael A. Parodi (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (Paperback)

I heard about Oscar'Zeta' Acosta basically from reading Hunter S. Thompson's book but became quickly fascinated by Dr. Gonzo and wanted to know more about him. I was pleased to find out he had also written some books and was even more pleased to find out he was(is?) a very good writer. Truly an inspiration to anyone who has ever felt their identity as an american is something that they have had to come to grips with. Apart from that serious subtext, it also a very entertaining and amusing story that rolls along, introducing some interesting and memorable characters and situations. A passionate human being wrote this book and it is filled with all the honesty and humanity of someone bearing his soul to achieve a greater sense of genuine self which for Oscar Acosta means being "A Brown Buffalo"

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A counter culture Chicano's struggle to find his identity., May 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (Paperback)

Acosta's Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is a journey through the most desperate six months of his life which happen to be right in the middle of the psychadelic "drop-out" sixties. This is the story of a man whose pain is made real, whose roots are in question, and whose society seems fragmented.

We travel with him from town to town from San Francisco to Mexico in all sorts of environments. In each town he is confronted by another contact zone filled with racism, surrealism and rootlessness.

Acosta is brutally honest with himself. He calls himself the Brown Buffalo. Him and his people, killed not out of necessity but for excess. Their skins became coats and their heads were mounted on walls. They were a people used, abused and driven from their lands. Acosta ends his book where his life actually begins as Zeta, a leader to the Chicano people, the Brown Buffalos.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen for the Hoofbeats, October 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (Paperback)

This book is crude and drug-addled, but there's a lot of truth in it. Acosta opens a window into his tormented soul, and the brutality with which he examines his own life is refreshing. In a strange way, this book imparts a message of hope to the reader. It's a classic. If you dig Hunter Thompson, check it out.