Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (Paperback)

by Hunter S. Thompson (Author) "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..." (more)
Key Phrases: national district, drug conference, American Dream, Mister Duke, Psychiatrist's Club (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the New York Times Book Review, Hunter S. Thompson's documented drug orgy through Las Vegas would no doubt leave Nancy Reagan blushing and D.A.R.E. founders rethinking their motto. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In its trunk, they stow "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls," which they manage to consume during their short tour.

On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the drug-a-delic duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help." For Thompson to remember and pen his experiences with such clarity and wit is nothing short of a miracle; an impressive feat no matter how one feels about the subject matter. A first-rate sensibility twinger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a pop-culture classic, an icon of an era past, and a nugget of pure comedic genius. --Rebekah Warren

Product Description
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

Now this cult classic of gonzo journalism is a major motion picture from Universal, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. Opens everywhere on May 22, 1998.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 2nd edition (May 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679785892
• ISBN-13: 978-0679785897
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (434 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Books > History > United States > 20th Century > 1960s
  #3 in	Books > Reference > Writing > Journalism
  #5 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "only for those with true grit-and we are chock full of it", July 1, 2002

By	Roule Duke (the Green Inferno) - See all my reviews

I have read and re-read my copy of this book so many times the pages are all dog eared and the spine is on the verge of coming apart. In short this book is an absolute masterpiece. I don't think that there is any other book that will completely hold you in it's grip from the first to the last line in the way that this book will.

This book and it's author have became cultural icons ever since it went to print in the early seventies. Plenty of other reviewers have gone into great detail about many of the notable qualities of this book: the hilarious dark humor of the two's drug induced antics and the razor sharp wit it is written with, the clarity in descriptions of the drug state, the spot on observations of the 'American way of life' as well as the counterculture of the '60s, the brutal honesty in which the author deals with negative and reckless acts commited by him and especially his attorny (which some find disturbing) and of course the shear genius in every page of this by all means flawless novel.

After reading this book too many times to keep count, although I still find it totally laugh out loud funny, I generally must say that Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas is ultimately a sad novel. Sure it's a road trip to cover a story in Las Vegas on hallucinogens, but I feel that overall it is the cronicle of a 'failed seeker'. I mean the search for the American Dream is unsuccessfull and you get the feeling from this book that it will always be an unfruitfull search as the American dream doesn't exist. The passages on how the energy of the '60s dissappeared are particularly moving in this way.

I cannot recomend reading this book enough, it is funny, witty, paranoid, dreamy yet crystal clear and written impecably well.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride"

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And you thought YOUR trip to Vegas was rough and wild!, November 15, 2004

By	Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Written in 1971, `Fear and Loathing' still has a powerful impact on the mind even today. If you are easily offended by gratuitous drug usage and the craziness resulting from it, then put the book down and back away slowly. For those who may have perhaps saw the movie with Johnny Depp and did not know what to think of it, I highly recommend reading the book and then watching the movie again, its subtleties come out from the background provided in the book, and you will truly appreciate the performances afterwards.

`Fear' is absolutely hilarious, following the ramblings of a journalist and his attorney into Las Vegas in the early years. Through clouds of mescaline, acid, ether, amyl, tequila, rum, and pot, we see Las Vegas through the demented eyes of a person totally over the edge and bordering on drug induced psychosis.

The bar scene in Circus-Circus is worth the price of the book alone, and all of the vapid trippings of our dynamic duo are practically frightening in their intensity. Thompson has captured the mind of the delusional manic in `Fear', and while it is a journey not recommended for real life, in its book form it is highly entertaining and brutally funny.

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas may be dated in its use of drugs and money, and the picture painted of a Las Vegas strip long gone to the commercialism of today's Vegas, but the amusing underlying story of human nature of the edge of reason is timeless. Definitely a worthwhile muse to entertain yourself with. Enjoy!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, May 5, 2008

By	Stephen Williams "Stephen Williams" (Hawthorne, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream" by Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Thompson practiced total immersion journalism. This form of reporting is called gonzo journalism.

Hunter Thompson drove to Las Vegas to report on a motorcycle race and ended up writing a story about himself writing a story about a motorcycle race. If he would have written a conventional report on motorcycle racing it would have been interesting to motorcycle enthusiasts for a few days. Since he wrote a gonzo story he had a very wide canvas and he used it well to create a classic.

The reader might be turned off by the obstreperous behavior, extreme self indulgence and offensive inconsiderate language. If you can look past this offensive conduct and you will see that Hunter Thompson gave us an insight into the American character of the 1970's.

See also: Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga (Modern Library)

I completely enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.