Absolutely incredible!

Listening to this represents a couple of firsts for me as a reader. It was the first time I have read the letters of a writer whose books I have not yet read. In addition, it marked the first time I have experienced a collection of letters in the audiobook format. That worked pretty well, since his letters make for good listening, and since the book provides a lot of insight into the life and thoughts of Thompson during the most creative period of his life. I am familiar with the legend of the notorious gonzo journalist, a figure who has come to us thru the popular culture with films (including a documentary directed by the great Alex Gibney) and a key role in the Doonesbury comic strip. The reading btw was performed effectively by Malcolm Hillgartner, who changed styles for certain letter writers, giving a slight Mexican accent to HST's Chicano sidekick Oscar Acosta, and adding pomposity to Tom Wolfe.

Here we see the legend taking shape, as Thompson settles down (or tries to anyway) in Woody Creek, Colorado and pursues his unique career in freelance journalism. He was coming off a successful book on the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and selling occasional pieces to Scanlan's Monthly (an exciting magazine that went bankrupt in its first year) along with other journals. He was working on a full-length work on the death of the American Dream for Random House, a project that he never really got going. We can practically hear the wheels in his head spinning in his letters to his editor, Jim Silberman, as he tries desperately to outline and come to grips with the book. Thompson struggled with constant debts, and salved his anxieties with liberal applications of alcohol, mescaline, and LSD (althou marijuana did not interest him much). Eventually salvation showed up in the form of a position as a staff writer at Rolling Stone magazine. He also was a big aficionado of firearms, and approached one editor with an offer of a humorous monthly column on the subject, written by his bad boy alter ego, Raoul Duke.

Many of these letters contain some fine writing, but others do not. I grew a little bored with his itemized expense requests and demands for payment from publishers. And the tales of his involvement in local Aspen / Pitkin County politics are fascinating, but grow repetitive. Apparently he was involved in an effort to get a young, inexperienced, pot-smoking cyclist/lawyer elected mayor of Aspen, and made a run for county sherrif himself. Both these efforts came up short, but only by a handful of votes. We can only wonder what that might have turned out like if they had won!

A few things definitely become clear about the man. He was rebellious, angry, incisive, and funny. He was easily outraged and frequently outrageous. I did begin to grow a bit tired with his constant invective and lashing out at others - he seemed pretty unwilling to look at the possibility that one source of his difficulties was his own behavior. His political outlook could best be described as left-libertarian - he despised the Republican Party and viewed the establishment with some paranoia - the fear and loathing he is always putting into his letters ("Yours in Fear and Loathing".) I also began to perceive some instability in the man - despite his talents he was probably struggling with some sort of psychological disorder. He later became a shadow of his former self - barely able to write, in bad shape physically, and still consuming lots of psychoactive substances. Eventually he himself became the spectacle, rather than his writing. Still, I look forward to reading some of his classic gonzo works, some of which I'm sure kick some a** and recall a time when there were adventurous, wild journalists out there with a left-of-center perspective.

He was such a brilliant writer, very clever and humorous. The landscapes divulged in his writings, coming out of his head were just so trippy. R.I.P.

What can I say? This was an amazing and brilliant book. It’s just this amazing and wonderful glimpse into the life of a professional journalist. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I was loathe to put down. I get so caught up in just getting a book read and crossing it off my list, but this one. This one I miss. I wish I could pick it up and read it all over again for the first time. Now, I went in, pretty much knowing nothing at all about Thompson. I’ve never read anything by Thompson. I haven’t even seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (the movie). So I had no idea what to expect.

Thompson is this over the top character, always the outsider, the rebel, given to flipping the system off. And yet. Reading these letters, he is also a consummate professional, he develops his persona, but he’s deeply invested in making a living as a writer, in cultivating professional contacts, and he has a pretty good sense of his own style and his audience. It’s fascinating to see how he balances these 2 images. Being both the outsider and rebel, and the professional who understands that he needs to get along with others.

The book is also this great insight into the development of a writer. It starts just after Thompson’s thirtieth birthday, just after the publication of Hell’s Angels. So it covers the work he does for Rolling Stone, the writing of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972. But it also covers Thompson’s disillusionment with fame. Sure, everyone knows who he is, but he’s still barely scraping by. He makes a living writing, but he isn’t getting rich from it. And we get to see his burgeoning apathy with the political process. This is a guy who was in Vietnam when they evacuated. Who followed Nixon and McGovern on their campaign trails. Nixon in both 1968 and 1972, and by the mid-seventies, as the 1976 campaign is winding down and the book is coming to an end, Thompson finds that politics no longer gets him going, that he’s ready to try other things.

As a writer, I found this professional account of things fascinating and spell-binding, because most of these letters are Thompson writing about the details of his writing career. Correspondence with writer-friends/acquaintances, other journalists, magazine editors, his editor at Random House; his agent. But it’s also this broad and detailed account of a writer writing about his views and his writing and sometimes the personal details of his life.

I’ve come away with an immense admiration and more than a little respect for Thompson.

Malcolm Hillgartner was a superb narrator for this book. He does great voices for the authors of different letters, but not exaggerated or fanciful. He has a nice even tone that catches the tone of the authors and never dips into monotony.

hunter, articulate, compassionate and not taken in by his own act...

Bought this waaaaayyy back in either '00 or '01. Better late than never...

Didn't finish due to...

12/29/08: As much as I love the good doc's work, I can't bring myself to finish it right now. The letters are funny and highly inspirational at times, but they drag on and are kinda monotonous. I'm sure it gets better later in the book so I'll come back to it when I'm back on a Gonzo kick. Right now I'm feeling a bit Bukowskian.

Just like the other collections. Still powerful and entertaining stuff. A little more addled than the previous ones, though.

I don't have the dedication to read a book of letters, but there were some good ones

A good book to re-read in these insane times.

"Thompson, having shaved his head, referred to his opponent as "my long-haired opponent", as the Republican candidate had a crew cut."

Too much of everything. But, this raises my appreciation of the genius of F&L in Las Vegas to new heights.

Raw Thompson. A collection of letters through the 60' and 70's . A inside look down a paranoid-freakpower-genius-comic path and what others had to say about him as well.