Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes [Paperback]

Terry Southern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

This collection of Southern's short pieces -- two dozen hilarious, well-observed, and devastating sketches that expose the hypocrisy of American social mores -- is widely recognized as an underground classic

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A remarkable collection. Red-Dirt Marijuana firmly establishes Southern as one of America’s foremost writers.” —George Plimpton

 

“[Red-Dirt Marijuana] contains most of the great short stories in English that are not by Mr. Hemingway or Mr. O’Hara.” —Robert Anton Wilson

 

“A witty and profound collection.” —William S. Burroughs

 

“Terry Southern was one of the first and best of the new wave of American writers, defining the cutting edge of black comedy.”—Joseph Heller

 

“Southern has managed to lay a kind of prose on us that can perpetrate a complete hoax while telling a mother’s own truth.” —Chicago Tribune

 

“Terry Southern is the most profoundly witty writer of our generation.” – Gore Vidal

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Citadel; 1st Citadel Underground ed edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806511672
• ISBN-13: 978-0806511672
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #781,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These stories blew me away!, December 5, 2004

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes (Paperback)

Having read Candy and Blue Movie, I have wanted to read another Terry Southern book for ages. However, it has been almost impossible to obtain his other works. I came across this short-story collection at a store that sells used books and I couldn't resist giving it a whirl. Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes is full of Southern's signature dark humor and unconventional storylines. Southern has proven that he is a master storyteller with the disarming stories featured in this book. My favorites are "Twirling at Ole Miss," "The Moon-shot Scandal," "You're Too Hip, Baby," "Razor Fight," "I Am Mike Hammer," and "The Blood of a Wig." Those stories blew me away. "The Blood of a Wig" was the best one in the collection. This is the funniest and strangest book I have read in a long time! If you loved Southern's novels, you will love this collection of short stories. I cannot recommend Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes enough.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Journalism before it was New., September 2, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes (Paperback)

This collection of short stories, articles, and interviews reveals a sharp, brazen, hip, and elegant mind at work. Southern, best known for his screenplay for "Dr Strangelove," here dazzles and beguiles his audience. Southern's early stories, including the insightful "You're Too Hip, Murray" and the hilarious "The Road Out of Axotle," are examples of his elegant writer's craft and artistry; and Esquire pieces such as the renowned "Twirling at Ole Miss" (ostensibly about a baton- twirling institute, but also about race relations, moonshine, and Faulkner), established him as the first "journalist" to take an idiosyncratic approach to article-writing. The book is worth buying just for the last story, the famed "Blood of a Wig," which is the greatest piece on illicit drug use ever written. Even non-hipsters will dig it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars weird and crazy, October 4, 2001

By 

Sai Li - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes (Paperback)

Screw prose. Screw plot. This book is so damned funny! It reminds me of the war stories of Michael Herr or the drugged ut fantasies of Hunter Thompson. What about the woman who colors her hair blond, only to return home and have her husband mistake her for a mistress. What about the irreverent humor about Hoover trying some neck-crophilia on JFK's body. This is one of the most original collection of stories I've ever read. It's so hard to find stuff like this nowadays.