Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze. Duke and Gonzo were sendups of Thompson himself and Chicano lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta respectively.

Related Topics:
Novel - Hunter S. Thompson - Ralph Steadman - Raoul Duke - Dr. Gonzo - Las Vegas - American Dream - Chicano - Oscar Zeta Acosta

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The book is a fictionalized account of Thompson's coverage of the Mint 400 motocross race for Sports Illustrated magazine in 1971, for which he was contracted to write photo captions. Prior to being asked to cover the race, Thompson was in Los Angeles reporting on the murder of Reuben Salazar and the race riots that resulted from his death. Acosta was a prominent figure in the Chicano community and therefore a natural source for Thompson's story. Finding it difficult for a Hispanic to talk openly to a white reporter in L.A.'s tense atmosphere, Thompson and Acosta decided that Las Vegas would be a more comfortable place to complete the story (later published as Strange Rumblings in Aztlan).

Related Topics:
Mint 400 - Motocross - Sports Illustrated - Magazine - 1971 - Los Angeles - Reuben Salazar - Race riot - Strange Rumblings in Aztlan

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What was intended as a 250-word photo captioning job snowballed into a novel-length feature for Rolling Stone magazine in November 1971. The text was eventually published as Fear and Loathing. The novel was heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the New York Times and a "scorching epochal sensation" by author Tom Wolfe.

Related Topics:
Rolling Stone - November - 1971 - New York Times - Tom Wolfe

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In the book The Great Shark Hunt, Thompson refers to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as "a failed experiment in gonzo journalism," a guerrilla style of reporting that Thompson championed and publicized throughout his career. Allegedly based on William Faulkner's idea that "the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism—and the best journalists know this," it blends storytelling, fiction, and traditional journalism.

Related Topics:
The Great Shark Hunt - Gonzo journalism - William Faulkner

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The book was an attempt to place the radical activism and drug culture of the 1960s into context. It explores the idea that 1971 was a turning point in hippie and drug culture in America, the year that the innocence and optimism of the late 1960s turned to cynicism. Some have suggested that the book's themes resemble those of The Great Gatsby, which deals with the state of the American Dream and the lives of the rich and careless. Some have suggested that the white Cadillac the pair drive (referred to as the "White Whale" in the book) is an allusion to the white whale in Moby Dick, symbolically representative of good and evil and a metaphor for elements of life that are out of people's control.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1971 - Hippie - The Great Gatsby - Cadillac - Moby Dick - Metaphor

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