A HST Classic

Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 505 pg.

Another classic from HST, in fact maybe my favorite work I have read of his so far, but its hard to choose. The setting for the book is the presidential campaign of 1972 pitting Gorge McGovern against Richard Millhouse Nixon. Hunter is sent by Rolling Stone to be the Washington D.C. correspondent for the magazine. Aside from running the National Affairs Desk, HST provides his own unique perspective on what it is like to be out there on the campaign trail. Starting with his coverage of the Democratic primaries and running all the way to the nomination of McGovern at the DMC, HST gives the inside story on what is happening ‘out there’ on the campaign trail, something the straight press can never do because of restrictions like ‘objectivity’ and the like. The result is perhaps the best account to date on what is really going on behind the scenes of a campaign for the highest office in the land.
The only drawback about reading HST is that it always gives me an incredible urge to drink and act in a semi-crazed style. I don’t know what it is, but it always results in me consuming at least a few beers if not more. And with a hunger to find a mescaline dealer, but I haven’t seen one of them wandering around for quite some time. Maybe I’m just not looking hard enough…. Ok, I seemed to have digressed there. I just trying to say that this book is essential reading for anyone interested in politics and the machinery behind it. Even if politics aren’t your cup up tea, HST brings a new dimension to any subject that he writes about, one that can be appreciated for its raw truth as well as its unconventional delivery.