This was the 50th anniversary edition of F&L. Nothing new in the front end. In the back end they give you 2 more Thompson articles.

the kentucky derby story is worth the price of admission... but of course Las Vegas is what everyone knows and loves, as they should.

This stands in a rather stark contrast to the last book that I read. Overall, it was a lighthearted, often postponed, long overdue foray into the writings of HST. His writing is enjoyable at some points, nearly nonsensical at others, but he captures the time period well. I'm interested to read his other works.

Quite the trip. Possible some of the fastest pacing I’ve ever read in certain sections of this book- not in a bad or good way, but in a wow-this-is-new kind of way. I appreciated how much it thrust me into the environment. If you could take the feeling of being zipped around in a fast car that you’re not in control of and put that feeling into a book, this is what you would get.

I think this book is a classic, read it twice... BUT it did perhaps lead a generation of wannabe's into a vicious cycle of self-destruction as cheap Hunter S. knock-offs.

The story is great, much better than the film adaptation, but this edition is no good. Ralph Steadman's pictures do such a great job in helping tell the story, but whoever edited/compiled this book didn't realize their importance and pasted them randomly throughout the text. What a shame.

This book is a trip. Thompson describes the effects of a myriad of drugs in paradoxically lucid prose, and somehow the overall effect is hilarious. At least that's how the first half goes. The second half descends into a more contemplative mood, alternating between more absurd encounters between Raoul Duke and a variety of strange types, and cynical comments on the Nixon regime and its stark contrast of the disenchanted early 1970s and the promise and glory of the Sixties. This book was initially published as a two-part serial in Rolling Stone in 1971 -- Watergate had yet to happen, the Beatles had just disbanded, John Lennon was still alive, and the drug culture of the hippie era was moving away from psychedelic drugs. There are some references to contemporary people and events that must have seemed as close and relevant to the 1971 reader as the refugee crisis, Trump's election and the Paris agreement are to present day people. But reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 46 years after its debut is quite a different experience to what it must have been when it came out in Rolling Stone. Now, it becomes an exercise in history, as well as an reminder of how history repeats itself in funny ways. Reading Duke's comments on Nixon and the disintegration of the Sixties and the ideals that era represented, highlighted with underlying tones of disgusted disillusionment, are highly reminiscent of the way many people feel now about the election of Trump, immediately after Barack Obama's two-terms as president.

One of the few books out there that literally made me laugh out loud. As your lawyer, I advise you to read it.

"But what was the story? Nobody had bothered to say. So we would have to chum it up on our own. Free Enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Algur gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. Do it now: pure Gonzo journalism."

It's wacky, crazy and a page turner!!

Hunter S. Thompson provides a very refreshing and unique writing style in his fictional adaptation of his journey to find the American Dream. Thompson was a pioneer of the Gonzo journalism movement, and was later portrayed by Johnny Depp in the movie. This book is a wild ride of drugs and curiosity.

(The Book gets Five Stars)

The American Library Classics Edition gets 2.

Seriously What The Fuck were they thinking publishing this piece WITHOUT Ralph Steadman's drawings, they aren't an afterthought or some inconsequiential dealing. They are fucking crucial. This edition gets a +1 for publishing "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved, but once again loses it for NOT INCLUDING RALPH FUCKING STEADMAN'S GODDAMN DRAWINGS.