Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S. Thompson has a reputation that precedes him. He's a larger than life figure for a variety of reasons, but his writing stands tall and continues looming over the American landscape bearing ugly truths and warnings that the meek of heart may not want to face.

[The] sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave... So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back. — Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing was Hunter in his own element. Having become a rebel earlier and now still composing himself as a talented, respected journalist, he explores one of his writing assignments through a drug-induced lens that sees America through the Las Vegas viewpoint of "let's gather X type of people for a conference, trip, or other pointedly good time".

This story is the gathering height of the zeal and abundance and decadence and depravity across all facets of American life. It's the wave that will one day crash and reform as a new yet similar wave. And the story is so sad yet prescient and hilariously told that nobody else has managed to capture in a way that sticks with me like this one has.

His earlier work, Hell's Angels, has a bit of a "try hard" element to it. Talented investigative journalist trying to fit into one of the most notorious, rowdy gangs of the time. And he unearthed fascinating insights and anecdotes and did a great job with that story. But the rebellious thoughts and views certainly didn't age as well and seemed a bit forced looking back in totality.

I strongly recommend Fear and Loathing for a read. Especially if you're a) a fan of journalism and want to see the forerunner for our YouTubers, b) you're a historian and you want to peek into a well painted portrait of America in the early 1970s through Vegas-based colors, and/or c) you want to read a relatively short book with some great writing and a movie (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)) to boot.

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