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[books] Nice review of Hunter S Thompson’s new bookFear and Loathing in America: the Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist 1968-1976. ‘In 1975, sent to Vietnam by Rolling Stone to gloat over the withdrawal of American troops, Thompson wrote an uncharacteristically deferential letter to a Vietcong official, requesting an interview. He apologised for his typing, but assured the colonel that, ‘I am one of the best writers currently using the English language as both a musical instrument and a political weapon.’ It was sweetly naive of him to imagine that military despots value such credentials; nevertheless, his self-assessment was just. The music made by the language, in his use of it, resembles the percussive iteration of gunfire, or the fulmination of an exploding grenade.’

Review of Fear and Loathing in America: the Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist 1968-1976

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2000 at 9:42 am and is filed under Books, Hunter S. Thompson.

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