Fear and Loathing creates a sharp and savvy profile of one of the most provocative voices and distinctive personalities of our time. To Hunter S. Thompson, being a Gonzo journalist means doing whatever it takes to get to the truth; everything from dropping acid with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters in the 60s, to participating in wild orgies and getting his nose broken while chronicling life with the Hell's Angels, to founding the Freak Power Party and running for sheriff of Aspen in 1970. A virtual icon, Thompson has regularly trashed the prime directives of reporting—accuracy and objectivity—yet he nonetheless always produces some of the sharpest political and cultural analysis around. Surrounded by submachine guns, fistfuls of colorful pills, and the ubiquitous Wild Turkey, Thompson careens through his life and career, unfolded in this book in all its decadence. New art by Ralph Steadman and over 20 black-and-white photographs are featured.

very interesting

Short, snappy, and to the point, this biography traces the arc of Hunter's life from his wayward youth to his meteoric rise as a pioneer of Gonzo journalism, to his descent into mediocrity as years of sleepless nights, drug and alcohol abuse, and the crushing expectation to continually upstage his antics finally take their toll.

Since it was published in the 90s, it doesn't include Hunter's later years, though there is what I read as both a foreboding and incredibly sad reference to Hunter's parallels with Ernest Hemingway (who eventually also killed himself).

I've long been a fan of Hunter's early incisive journalism—basically everything he wrote before he published Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—and I've always wondered why everything he wrote after that was such crap; form without substance. A simple biography has the answer: the drugs did him in.

He had so much potential as a writer and it was terrible to read how he just wasted it all getting wasted.

i read this before i read anything by hunter s. thompson and it formed a negative view of him in my mind.

Basically Hunter Thompson was a selfish self centered asshole who took drugs in massive quantities drank like a fish and beat up his wife and girlfriends. If I had anything else to read I would have burned this crappy book.
I never liked Thompson's writing and now I dislike him as a person

This fucking book is simultaneously depressing as hell and divinely inspiring. HST was a madman that lived by his own crazy rules, but doing so came at the cost of constant fear and raging paranoia. A real page-turner that gets the adrenaline flowing! The only thing I regret is that the book ends over a decade short of the subject’s life (it was published in 1992 while HST was still alive), and I had to find out how he finally flamed out by reading his Wikipedia entry. But I won’t spoil that for you.

3.5

if i had read this when i first heard about it (back in the 1990s), i may have liked it. but at this point, it really has nothing to offer. and some of what it does offer has since been discredited by numerous other sources. don't waste your time.

Paul Perry shows as much of HST's true nature as anyone may ever see. The reader can appreciate the genius of HST's writing gift, and see deep into the man's flaws. HST was the right man for his times, and those times were not always sunny and pretty. In fact HST, took us into the very dark and ugly places of American culture, and this book shows us what made him the right man for that journey. I don't know if I would have liked Mr. Thompson if I ever met him, but this book reveals how he made himself into the man that showed us the fear and loathing within the soul of our culture. It also shows you the fierce spirit of a person who created the image they wanted others to see.

Great story! Love H.S.T.

Very over the top. Seemed well-researched, if not particularly well written. Interesting stories.

The story behind this book is interesting. Essentially, Thompson screwed Perry by not writing a story he was supposed to, so Perry, to get back at Hunter, wrote this bio about him. I liked this better than Gonzo, because I found the tone and perspective weren't as "Thompson is God." It was well researched and easy to read.