hst was a nut; he was also brilliant-- this collection of letters tracing through his career as a writer reflects both truths. i read this right after the biographical "gonzo", which made it interesting to see his life from multiple perspectives. i'd recommend a similar course in order to get a real handle on that era, and this man's take on key events that happened then (for example, the brutal 1968 chicago democratic convention, a turning point in a number of ways).

More letters, more fun. This one, among other things, includes Hunter's haggling with Jann Wenner over his expense account for his famous trip to Las Vegas.

I'm a big Hunter S. Thompson fan and hope to read this next week!

Shows the breadth of Hunter's reading and learning. Like many of his generation he started out following Fitzgerald. I am extremely humbled that a guy that I used to work with in a funky used bookstore edited this book and is now a bigwig in historical studies. I have to put down the crackpipe!

This is the second book of letters I've read from this guy. So I've read approximately 1500 pages of personal correspondence from this dude amounting to the first 2/3 of his life before he blew his brains out. Honestly, I can't think of another writer whose personal letters would interest me as much (well, now that I think about it, possibly Robert Anton Wilson or maybe Thomas Pynchon, but there don't seem so be 1000s of pages of their letters so it's irrelevant). But anyways, I liked this. We all know that Hunter was a crazy man, but he also was freaking smart and his letters to people like George McGovern, Pat Buchanan, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Jimmy Carter, etc etc etc prove this. So he basically started out as an unknown writer but then wrote some crazy good books and still lived the good life. It was fun to see a guy whose books are in every bookstore now bitching and moaning about money and saying how he thought that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was his best book, but he wasn't getting any cash for it. And then there were the letters to and from Fear and Loathing's "300 pound Samoan Lawyer" who wasn't actually 300 pounds or Samoan (but was a lawyer) Oscar Zeta Acosta. These were great. They pretty much beat each other up for years until Acosta dissappeared, never to be seen again. Anyways. OK for that. Hunter was nuts, but was politically and culturally insightful and definitely lived the American philosophy of liberty.

You'd think one would get tired of 6 years worth of correspondence in re: asking for payment, asking for advances, demanding payments, asking for loans, bitching about money (payments and advances and expenses), and after all that, begging for editorial compass. But not here. As good as he was as a political journalist, he comes out looking even better after reading these 6 years worth of missives. Wish there were more folks like him now; we need them.

After reading the first volume of Thompson's letters, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman 1955-67, I picked up this second volume, which covers the time period during which he wrote his most well-known book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in preparation for a re-reading of that seminal work.

Like the letters in the first volume, those in The Brutal Odyssey show both a side of the writer that many will find unfamiliar (i.e. an insightful political analyst) as well as the "Raoul Duke" side we recognize as quintessential HST. What strikes me is the variety of people with whom he interacted, corresponded, and - surprisingly - seemed to like: Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Carter, David Broder, Richard Goodwin, Doris Kearns, Gary Hart, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, and Walter Mondale to name just a few.

It probably wasn't always easy to be a friend of Thompson's, but it must have been interesting. After reading this, you won't likely be able to get his voice out of your head, you twisted scumbags. Cazart.

YOURS IN DEEP SNOW, CIAO, INDEED, CAZART, OK FOR NOW, BEWARE, ETC., ETC., ETC.

Fear and Loathing in America is Hunter S. Thompson's second collection of correspondence letters. Occasionally the letters are amusing, for example: Thompson's feud with a local CBS television affiliate over their broadcast times of Lassie. Most of the letters cover Hunter's money problems and arguments with his editors. The biggest reveal of this collection is that Hunter's public persona and his private life where one in the same. This collection is strictly for the Thompson obsessives.

Jesus H. Christ almighty, but I MISS this man.
This is a compendium of letters written, both personal and professional correspondence, between 1968 and 1976 that shows not only the biting wit but the razor sharp intellect of this now gone author. You know how people make off-handed comments like 'a light went out' or 'we lost something important' when he died? And you think to yourself, yeah, yeah, everyone says that kind of thing when someone dies... sometimes just to be polite. Well, however over-used, those remarks hold true this time.
Brutal honesty and laugh until your stomach hurts writing combination. That what this book shows about HST.

This thick volume was a good look at the world of Hunter S Thompson from the time of his first real success with "Hell's Angels" to the release of his first collection "The Great Shark Hunt". The letters in this volume discuss his often rocky relationship with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, his money troubles--he never became wealthy despite his apparent public success, his friendships with William Kennedy, Oscar Acosta, and George McGovern, among others, and (most importantly) his struggles trying to repeat the genuine quality of his triumvirate of successes in the late '60s and early '70s: "Hell's Angels", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", and "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72". Reading some of the long, sometimes repetitive letters, it soon becomes obvious that Thompson's lifestyle did as much to hurt his ability to write as it did to form his singular and still influential style. Although Thompson continued to write good articles right up until his suicide in 2005, he clearly struggled, and this volume of his letters paints a clear picture of the reasons for his rise, and for his long fall.

I really loved this book of letters, some letters more than others, obviously, but it's certainly a great collection.