Discussion: Hunter S. Thompson

it is really refreshing to read hunter's kingdom of fear. much of his attitude about freedom and justice and righteousness resonates with me. i cheer him page after page.

>>By CHEESER



i don't know about the rest of you, but i would like nothing more than to sit down with thompson over a bottle of wild turkey, and see where conversation might take us. top it off with some serious target practice with various firearms at various distances to make for a great day. hst sounds like a man with my kind of heart and no fear of pursuing it's desires.cheers to the man!



The guy is a nutcase, but has a good sense of humor. Looking forward to reading kingdom of fear.

>>By afro thunder



Thompson is old & burned out....

I don't think he can write a single page without rehashing his glory-years. They say 'the pen is the first thing to go.' And I think we can see it with Thompson. TKOF isn't a bad book, but he hasn't really written anything of substance in over twenty years and I don't have any expectations that he will break free from this block that has plagued him in the last twenty/thirty years. It's too bad, but that's what a serious drug & alcohol addiction will do, kids, so be like your idol and glug, glug, sniff & snort your way to Burnoutville... Ho ho ho.

I'm just sayin'....
LPH

>>By Lo Phat Ham



Dr . Hunter Thompson is a genius, no matter what he says or does, his creativite will take us back and foward times for the rest of times .

>>By Angel E .



Thompson, often called "Americas most accurate and least factual political writer," has written some really great works. Reading Better than Sex now, with a look back at the Clinton years, he was soooo dead on accurate about Slick Willie Clinton it is nearly amazing. Generation of Swine was a look into the back alley dealings of the political machine that everyone considering running for public office should read. Songs of the Doomed was, in my opinion, the last really solid of his books. I think that the father of Gonzo Journalism has fried a few billion too many brain cells. Living proof of what too many years of alcoholism and mass drug abuse can do to a person. I will continue to read his books as a die hard fan, but I am afraid the best of his days are in the past.

P.J. O'rourke has picked up the slack for the good doctor. I highly recommend P.J.'s books to any Thompson fan. He is funny as hell.

>>By Gunslinger



....and yes, I think it would be grand time to spend several hours with Hunter at the Aspen Drug and Gun Club. The clubs motto: "Death before Dishonor, Drugs before Lunch."

>>By Gunslinger



The good Dr. rules...hst is a Steinbeck on LSD.

>>By Al C



Much can be said about the burnout factor. For anyone who has seen HST "in concert," knows what I am talking about. Yet, we do not judge the personality in the human but the personality in the work. My favorite work is The Rum Diaries. You can tell when he started writing and hurried to the finish...classic HST sophmoric clap. But, an interesting historical look into early GONZO. I really liked The Great Shar Khunt as well (hee hee).

>>By repercush



Im always too drugged up to finish anything he wrote...usually too drugged up to even start it. Drugs are better than reading about drugs anyway.

>>By Hume Ungus



hunter s(tockton) thompson

it's kinda easy to knock him now

i guess he cursed himself by setting the bar so high with his early writing in the late 60's - early to mid 70's

his gonzo accounts of nixon on the campaign trail
and his alcohol fuelled weekend at the kentucky derby with sidekick ralph steadman are some of my favourite pieces
(along with the classic F & L In Las Vegas)

i wish he was still on top his game
to give the current white house administration
the
"Full (gonzo) Monty"

>>By Helmet



...i heard the news today
oh boy .....

the indestructable Dr. HST
dead by his own hand

here's the final paragraph of something he wrote that was published on May 25, 1964 in the National Observer in a piece contemplating on what may have drawn Ernest Hemingway to Ketchum, Idaho to end his life with a shotgun blast
the article is entitled

"What Lured Hemingway To Ketchum?"

Perhaps he found what he came here for, but the odds are huge that he didn't. He was an old and sick, and very troubled man, and the illusion of peace and contentment was not enough for him -- not even when his friends came up from Cuba and played bullfight with him at the Tram. So finally,and for what he must have thought the best of reasons, he ended it with a shotgun.


Hunter
S(tockton)
Thompson
the 'Gonzo Godfather'

your musings
were my reading pleasures

mahalo

>>By Helmet



Would it be wrong to say I`m glad for him? Wasn`t there a quote about him only being happy with life becuse he knew he could kill himself @ any time?

Maybe in the west we put too high a premium on life at all costs? He chose to end his life muc as he had lived it. With a really big gun.

I`m a 27 year old guy on the other side of the world who never met him but changed the way i think because of him. And I`m not alone. If one person says that about me after I`m gone Ill be happy.

Most likely they`ll say something like what his old friend Ralph Stead was reported to have said when he heard of his death.

"Bastard.Now I have to explain Gonzo"

>>By docjay



i must have been about 15 when i somehow came accross
"Hells Angels - A Strange & Terrible Saga"
by some guy called Hunter S. Thompson.
he had me hooked with his style & prose (this was pre-gonzo) by the end of chapter 1
(hmmm, i wonder if this is why i now ride a harley.....
the Dr.'s subversion at work)
anyway
i eagerly seeked out and read anything else of his i could get my hands on
&
finally came upon
"Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas"
gonzo-fuckin'-rama !!!!!
with that unforgetable opening line..........

'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.'

>>By Helmet



RIP HST. See my profile page for my favorite HST quote.

>>By runner



Not yet...I want to study its movements...:-)

>>By docjay



Have only read Hell's Angels (so far!!) so dont kill me for
being the unexperienced one.........haha
Hmm yes
A lovely friend of mine urged me to discover the delights of Hunter.... and wow- i'm pleased i did!!
Hell's Angels is a fine start to what I expect to be an even better collection of writings.......
Thank you Helmet !!!

>>By Tchock



Check out his 'Rum Diaries'. Jolly good.

>>By Abracadabra



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