Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson

Perry, Susan Perry, Paul Perry

Da Capo Press, Sep 12, 1993 - Social Science - 228 pages

Hunter S. Thompson is the quintessential outlow journalist, the one true prince of Gonzo, and an American legend. In this "violently unauthorized" biography, Paul Perry offers never-before-related details of this outrageous writer's escapades and finally answers the provocative questions that hound Thompson's hordes of fans: "Whence comes his love of fun, his apocalyptic drive, his grim paranoia? Is it possible that a mere mortal could survive what he has survived?" Perry takes us on a journey through Thompson's booze and drug fueled rise to fame. We see him as a young yahoo in Louisville, Kentucky, hating school but reading voraciously, drinking heavily, and playing with his .22 caliber rifle; as a soldier getting thrown out of the air force for writing investigative pieces in the base newspaper; as a chronicler of the Hell's Angels, in which he attends wild orgies, risks his life, and gets his nose broken - all to get a good story; as he drops acid with Ken Kesey and the infamous Merry Pranksters in the 60s; as he singlehandedly creates gonzo journalism during his notorious Rolling Stone assignment covering the 1972 Presidential campaign, and in the classic Fear and Loathing books. We witness first-hand the secrets of Thompson's inventive and irreverent gonzo journalism, which means doing whatever it takes to get to the truth (even when that requires consuming myriad drugs and alcohol, running up alarming expense tabs, careening wildly through the facts, and calling the President of the United States a "psychotic bastard"). Although Thompson regularly trashes the prime directives of reporting - accuracy and objectivity - he has produced some of the sharpest political and culturalanalysis around. Paul Perry takes an unprecedented look at this man who is a horror to some and a hero to others, and the result is a sharp and savvy profile of one of the most provocative voices and distinctive personalities of our time.

About the author

Paul Perry attended Arizona State University and received a fellowship from the Freedom Forum Foundation at Columbia University in 1988. He taught magazine writing at the University of Oregon and was Executive Editor at American Health magazine. He is the co-author with Melvin Morse of Closer to the Light, Transformed by the Light, and Where God Lives, which won the 2002 Aleph Award for the best spiritual book published that year in France. His work has appeared in numerous publications including National Geographic Adventure, Ladies Home Journal, Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, and Reader's Digest.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson
• Authors: Perry, Susan Perry, Paul Perry
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1993
• ISBN: 1560250658, 9781560250654
• Length: 228 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Popular Culture