Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson · 1971
Gonzo journalism is Thompson's invention: the reporter as subject, the style as argument, the chaos as form. Neither novel nor pure journalism. An essay about the death of the American Dream written at 100 mph.
The case against
Two long drug binges in search of a thesis. The wave speech is the passage everyone quotes because it is nearly the only one where Thompson stops mugging; elsewhere the trashed hotel rooms blur together and the terrorized maids and waitresses are collateral the book never counts. Gonzo gave a generation of imitators permission, which may be its worst crime.
Essays · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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