by No Single Name

Created on: April 23, 2009

Written in 1971, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has become the definitive example of Gonzo journalism, a brainchild of self-loathing journalist Hunter S. Thompson. First having written a book on Hell's Angels, Thompson took his second literary venture as an opportunity to explore and expand his writing into a new realm, one that is neither entirely fiction nor entirely fact; though this may make the book confusing for some, those who embrace it and accept their own truths will find Thompson's first-person, plot-less odyssey to be an entertaining and disturbing example of human life at its worst; or, some might argue, best.

The story follows Thompson under the guise of Raoul Duke and his attorney, "Dr. Gonzo," as he seeks to find the "American Dream" in the city of Las Vegas. Sent to cover the Mint 400 race, they arrive in the city with a car full of drugs and the intention to achieve their goals through the means of "pure gonzo journalism." The pair make trouble for the denizens of the city, with Thompson often the instigator of events: a real-life doctor of journalism, he records his stories in such a way as to make reality questionable. Pure Gonzo journalism, indeed. Thompson writes of drugs, the paranoia they induce, and the unpleasant side effects of them quite candidly, more than happy to describe the utter horror of a bad trip in which he viewed the other individuals filling the room as horrific reptiles.

After finding himself unwelcome in his hotel room and trying to leave town, Thompson acquiesces to stay on a few more days and report on the national district attorneys conference on dangerous drugs, the book's main attraction. He swims among a sea of police officers and other law enforcement individuals with enough drugs in the car for it to look like a "mobile police narcotics lab," having already maxed out a number of credit cards, and hopped the previous hotel without paying. Their search for the American Dream continues until, at book's end, readers must wonder if it was ever actually found; or if the search continues.

Thompson's book is every bit hysterically funny as it is probably inaccurate: he himself has been recorded as saying that, upon reading the piece, he no longer recalls what is real, what is dream, and what is hallucination, which serves to his point of Gonzo journalism. Plot-less but not pointless, Fear and Loathing begs answer to the question of the reality and tangibility of the American Dream in a time when the nation was at war and

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