Rating: 
Summary: Letters from the Doctor
Review: The second volume of letters from Hunter S. Thompson takes us through the period in his career take he exploded as the most famous (or infamous) journalist in the country. Most of Dr. Thompson's writings are in the first person and personally revealing, so the fact we get to read his personal correspondence isn't as revealing as it maybe for other journalists. That being said, these letters are full of the insightful commentary that Dr. Thompson is noted for. He can skewer people with the best of them, but amongst his rants lay a sharp sense of humor. This collection is highly entertaining and worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Outrageous correspondences from Woody Creek
Review: This 2nd volume of letters written by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson covers the years in which Dr. Thompson was writing his opus on the death of the American dream, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Picking up after the publication of "Hell's Angels" and covering the late 60's and 70's, this collection provides an insight into the often twisted genius that is Dr. Thompson. However, as interesting as some of the letters between Thompson and his editor regarding "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" are, the real prize of this volume is the everyday letters that he writes to fans (who want more information from him on how to join the Hell's Angels), his Dentist (who tries to collect $277 from Thompson at once, a tactic which Thompson calls "sheer madness"), and an outdoor clothing catalog (from whom he wants a refund when he finds that one of their products which is supposed to be made from leather is no longer made of leather). It is these letters that show how normal Thompson thought his actions were, even though they may have seemed anything but normal to those he was writing to. Other highlights include the book's opening essay on Bob Dylan and the hippie dream, his earliest ramblings from his lawyer Oscar Acosta, and a letter to mystery writer Sue Grafton who grew up in the same town as Thompson. Perhaps the most interesting discovery to fans of Thompson are the letters detailing Thompson's plans to have his novel, "The Rum Diary" published as early as 1968, a promise that would not come to fruition for another thirty years. Overall this collection of letters is an essential piece of the puzzle that is Thompson's literary catalog, even more so than the previous volume of letters published in 1997.
Rating:
Summary: Outrageous correspondences from Woody Creek
Review: This 2nd volume of letters written by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson covers the years in which Dr. Thompson was writing his opus on the death of the American dream, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Picking up after the publication of "Hell's Angels" and covering the late 60's and 70's, this collection provides an insight into the often twisted genius that is Dr. Thompson. However, as interesting as some of the letters between Thompson and his editor regarding "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" are, the real prize of this volume is the everyday letters that he writes to fans (who want more information from him on how to join the Hell's Angels), his Dentist (who tries to collect $277 from Thompson at once, a tactic which Thompson calls "sheer madness"), and an outdoor clothing catalog (from whom he wants a refund when he finds that one of their products which is supposed to be made from leather is no longer made of leather). It is these letters that show how normal Thompson thought his actions were, even though they may have seemed anything but normal to those he was writing to. Other highlights include the book's opening essay on Bob Dylan and the hippie dream, his earliest ramblings from his lawyer Oscar Acosta, and a letter to mystery writer Sue Grafton who grew up in the same town as Thompson. Perhaps the most interesting discovery to fans of Thompson are the letters detailing Thompson's plans to have his novel, "The Rum Diary" published as early as 1968, a promise that would not come to fruition for another thirty years. Overall this collection of letters is an essential piece of the puzzle that is Thompson's literary catalog, even more so than the previous volume of letters published in 1997.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Classic by the Great Dr.!
Review: This book was the second in a proposed "trilogy" of Hunter S. Thompson's personal letters. This book continues were the Proud Highway left off. Where did that leave off, well it was 1968 and Nixon was slowly becoming one of Hunter's people to pick on. This volume of letters were just as good as the 1st volume if not better! He writes to KREX TV in Grand Junction and complains about their programming or lack there of, and that was in 1968 and I want to do that myself here in 2001! He also writes Senators, Presidents, and Editors! We learn about his attempt to become Sheriff of Pitikin County on the "freak power ticket," whether or not Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was fiction or real! All in all this book is great and anyone who likes Thompson should pick this one up and prepare to never put it down until you are done! I have to go and read his column on ESPN.com page 2 that is posted every Monday, titled Hey Rube!
Rating:
Summary: Another Classic by the Great Dr.!
Review: This book was the second in a proposed "trilogy" of Hunter S. Thompson's personal letters. This book continues were the Proud Highway left off. Where did that leave off, well it was 1968 and Nixon was slowly becoming one of Hunter's people to pick on. This volume of letters were just as good as the 1st volume if not better! He writes to KREX TV in Grand Junction and complains about their programming or lack there of, and that was in 1968 and I want to do that myself here in 2001! He also writes Senators, Presidents, and Editors! We learn about his attempt to become Sheriff of Pitikin County on the "freak power ticket," whether or not Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was fiction or real! All in all this book is great and anyone who likes Thompson should pick this one up and prepare to never put it down until you are done! I have to go and read his column on ESPN.com page 2 that is posted every Monday, titled Hey Rube!
Rating:
Summary: Required high school reading
Review: This is the most thorough account of the up to date mind of the outlaw journalist Hunter S. Thompson. After searching around in the Journalism section for pure leisure, I spotted, removed from the shelf, and bought this book for no reason but pure attraction. I read the back of it and I liked the reviews -- I read some letter's and couldn't get myself to put it back on the shelf, just coudn't. This was no more than 7 months ago, and now I have all this mans books on my desk -- all I have read, and all I have praised.
The energy Thompson portrays in his letters gives most (if not all) of his readers strong adrenaline. He inspires, and therefore is a true poet. He never dissappoints or bores me, or anyone for that matter, when he has something to say. I find myself reading his words to wake up, to get new ideas (for my own writing), and to think as far out of "the box" as I can. He is the only human being that gets crazier and more energetic the older he gets. It's as if "he's trapped inside the body of a teenage girl," as said at the end of Kingdom of Fear. Very interesting....
I hope, as many people hope, that this is truly a TRILOGY of letters -- I'll get one hell-of-an adrenaline rush when I find out that the Vol. 3: Gonzo letters, will be in bookstores soon. Jesus! Even thinking about it makes me feel The Rush.
Those Sunday nights that I spend writing until the early morning hours of Monday morning ... waiting patiently for the new Hey Rube column on ESPN -- what would life be worth without passion, entertainment, and joy. Some people refer to it as "Hell," ...and that's probably as accurate as it can be without irrelevant connotations being risen.
I recomend this book to any Thompson fan, literary junkie, and for those people who need a good laugh to keep sanity in check.
Rating:
Summary: Like A Steakknife Into the Heart of Journalism
Review: Thompson's style illuminates his letters to freinds, creditors, debtors, associates, and enemies. This collection of Thompson's letters to the above showcase his unparrelled talents and imagination. No one rages or praises like Hunter S. His vitrolic rants are both scary (you can practically taste the bile) and engrossing (never have I heard the words ...; used so appropriately and w/ such abandon). This collection encapsulates the time Thompson wrote the letters ('68-'76), everything from the end of the hippies to Nixon to the music, and is loaded w/ political and pop culture references. The Proud Highway showcased Thompson's budding talents and raw prose, here his Gonzo style comes out clearer w/ each writing, and though, like The Proud Highway, wanes on certain letters, it will regain your interest in just a few pages. It's an insight into his life at that period, argueably his most brilliant time, when he wrote the now classic (which he predicted) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegs; The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. It also tells of Thompson's tale to run on the Freak Power ticket for Sherriff of Aspen, his strokes of humanity when dealing w/ people, and the backlash that is Thompson when he's treated poorly. A must for any fan of Hunter S. Thompson.
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Summary: "Riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...."
Review: Two of my favorite contemporary writers have died unexpectedly in the past few months - the Mississippi writer Larry Brown and, more recently, Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide on Feb. 20.
Both were deaths that affected me greatly. Usually when I hear of a notable passing, my reaction is, "Oh, no," but in both of these cases my first thought was to hope that the news wasn't true.
In the days following Thompson's death, I found myself going over some of his work - a documentary on the Criterion "Fear & Loathing" DVD, "The Great Shark Hunt" and "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas."
But the book that I found myself reading the most, and finding a kind of solace in, is this one: Thompson's collected letters from 1968-76.
I used to work in a bookstore and there was always a question of where "Las Vegas" belonged. It obviously wasn't fiction but it also couldn't be entirely true, and that's part of its genius. But with "The Gonzo Letters, Volume II" there is no doubt that this is the genuine article, this is probably the closest look we'll get at what Thompson was like. The sheer fact that he wrote and saved so many letters in the first place tells you a lot about the man himself.
The correspondence here runs the gamut: letters to Oscar Acosta, Tom Wolfe, Charles Kuralt, William Kennedy, Jann Wenner, his brother, his mother, his broker and anybody he had a beef with. The letters take us through his early ups and downs, his campaign for sheriff of Pitkin County and we not only get to follow him through the success of "Las Vegas," but also part of the process of him refining surrealism and colorful exaggeration into the style he'd use in that book.
And tucked away in the book, on page 181 is a letter that gave me tickles and chills and a shiver of sadness as I read it with the news playing in the background on TV. It's a May 19, 1969 letter to the Disabled American Veterans Association, in response to a solicitation for a donation. Thompson opposed the then-raging war in Vietnam and was flabbergasted that the DAV would support it. His reply is so fierce and funny and sad that it even stung me, a bystander, 35 years later.
Rating:
Summary: Fear and Loathing in the Heartland
Review: When I started to read this book - I must admit, I was disappointed. Having read everything that Hunter Thompson had written, I was a lttle under whelmed at first. However, I started to warm to the book as the years ran by. I could picture the events described in his letters - the Vegas book, the 72 campaign trail, fall of Viet Nam, the fall of Richard Nixon thru his eyes - it brought back my own memories of the events. In the end, the Gonzo style of prose took over and I found myself devouring the book in big chunks. For anyone who wants to remember the crazy, wild times of the late 60's - mid 70's, there isn't a better book.
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