From Publishers Weekly
Thompson may be correct in assuming that the greed and immorality pervading the American social landscape are obscene, but his surreal, half-demented style has hardened into a pose. These columns from the San Francisco Examiner prove only that journalism can become dated quickly. The author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas calls Colonel Khadafy smarter than Ronald Reagan and takes potshots at television news, Gary Hart, Ed Meese, evangelists, Michael Dukakis, Pat Robertson and the Iran-contra hearings. He predicts that the Democrats will self-destruct in the 1988 presidential campaign. People he dislikes are described as "money-sucking animals," "brainless freaks," "geeks," "greed-crazed lunatics" and so on. Thompson's flaccid diatribes seem designed to instill a sense of smug superiority in the reader.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Thompson's outrageous reporting style, called "Gonzo journalism," was the rage in the early 1970s. The protest generation cleaved to his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ( LJ 8/72) and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ' 72 ( LJ 6/1/73), both genuinely funny and often perceptive social and political commentaries. This new effort, a collection of 100 short pieces originally published as a column in the San Francisco Examiner over the past two years, tries to recapture the old ebullience, but much of it falls flat. Still, Thompson's fansthere are manywill savor his wild words on Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart, Al Haig, Ollie North, George Bush, TV preachers, et al. Kenneth F. Kister, Pinellas Park P.L., Fla.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
