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A review by pt_barnum
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson
challenging
dark
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.5
If you are interested in political writing or political journalism of any kind, you have to read this book. After you have read it, if you still are interested in political writing or political journalism, as was I, you have a problem.
This book follows HST covering the 1972 presidential election, but that's not what you read the book for. If you want a good idea of what happened, this will actively confuse you. You would read the book to get a good idea of what it's like to be a political journalist covering a presidential election, and it is a dark sight. The book is so visceral and emotional at points it's suffocating, maddening, frustrating, and confusing. This makes F&L 72' very hard to read, which is why I had to deduct the half point, but it's just a half point for one reason; the feelings mentioned above and difficulty simply make the book a more honest expression of political journalism. The book isn't maddening and confusing because HST is a bad writer, no, quite the opposite. He is such a good writer that he does a superb job of displaying how awful politics is, and how fucking terrible it feels to be fully submerged in the drama of it all. At many points, he literally goes off on tangents about drugs or sports just to seemingly distract himself from the project he's tasked with. Of course, he adds in his classic Gonzo flair of exaggerating points or literally lying at points for the sake of humor, which is part of the reason it's a much better book about emotions than events. If you treat this like you're just reading HST's diary, it makes it far easier to get through.
This book follows HST covering the 1972 presidential election, but that's not what you read the book for. If you want a good idea of what happened, this will actively confuse you. You would read the book to get a good idea of what it's like to be a political journalist covering a presidential election, and it is a dark sight. The book is so visceral and emotional at points it's suffocating, maddening, frustrating, and confusing. This makes F&L 72' very hard to read, which is why I had to deduct the half point, but it's just a half point for one reason; the feelings mentioned above and difficulty simply make the book a more honest expression of political journalism. The book isn't maddening and confusing because HST is a bad writer, no, quite the opposite. He is such a good writer that he does a superb job of displaying how awful politics is, and how fucking terrible it feels to be fully submerged in the drama of it all. At many points, he literally goes off on tangents about drugs or sports just to seemingly distract himself from the project he's tasked with. Of course, he adds in his classic Gonzo flair of exaggerating points or literally lying at points for the sake of humor, which is part of the reason it's a much better book about emotions than events. If you treat this like you're just reading HST's diary, it makes it far easier to get through.