Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, and other American stories (24 page)

She inspected it carefully, then handed it back. I sensed a new respect in her manner. Her eyes grew warm. She seemed to want to touch me. “I hope you’ll forgive me, Doctor,” she said with a fine smile. “But I had to ask. We get some
real freaks
in this place. All kinds of dangerous addicts. You’d never believe it.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I understand perfectly. But I have a bad heart and I hope—”

“Certainly!” she exclaimed—and within seconds she was back with a dozen amyls. I paid without quibbling about the ecclesiastical discount. Then I opened the box and cracked one under my nose immediately, while she watched.

“Just be thankful your heart is young and strong,” I said. “If I were you I would never . . . ah . . . holy shit! . . . what? Yes, you’ll have to excuse me now; I feel it coming on.” I turned away and reeled off in the general direction of the bar.

“God’s mercy on you swine!” I shouted at two Marines coming out of the men’s room.

They looked at me, but said nothing. By this time I was laughing crazily. But it made no difference. I was just another fucked-up cleric with a bad heart. Shit, they’ll love me down at the Brown Palace. I took another big hit off the amyl, and by the time I got to the bar my heart was full of joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger . . . a Man on the Move, and just sick enough to be totally confident.

By Hunter S. Thompson

Hell’s Angels
(1966)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
(1971)
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
(1973)
The Great Shark Hunt
(1979)
The Curse of Lono
(1983)
Generation of Swine
(1988)
Songs of the Doomed
(1990)
Screwjack
(1991)
Better Than Sex
(1994)
The Proud Highway
(1997)
The Rum Diary
(1998)
Fear and Loathing in America
(2000)
Kingdom of Fear
(2003)
Hey Rube
(2004)

Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky. A hell-raiser from the first, during his twenties Thompson moved quickly through a series of magazine and newspaper jobs – from
TIME
and
The National Observer
to a bowling magazine in Puerto Rico, where he wrote his first book, a novel called
The Rum Diary
that remained unpublished until the late ’90s.

Thompson is best known as the godfather of Gonzo Journalism. Taking the New Journalism of the ’60s one step further, Thompson got to the heart of the action by becoming the star of his own reporting – whether by cycling with America’s toughest motorcycle gang, the
Hell’s Angels
, or downing a frightening collection of psychedelics in the name of the American Dream. In 1970, Hunter S. Thompson ran for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado, the nearest city to his 100-acre farm in Woody Creek, and only narrowly lost. He contributed articles to
Rolling Stone
for many years, and ran a weekly sports column for
ESPN Online
. His books include
Hell’s Angels
,
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
,
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
,
The Great Shark Hunt
,
The Curse of Lono
,
Songs of the Doomed
,
Better than Sex
,
Generation of Swine
,
The Proud Highway
,
The Rum Diary
,
Fear and Loathing in America
,
Screwjack
,
The Kingdom of Fear
, and
Hey Rube
. Hunter S. Thompson died in 2005.

Speeding through the desert in a bright red Chevy convertible with nothing but a trunk full of drugs and the true grit to use them, Raoul Duke (Thompson’s alter ego) and his attorney Doctor Gonzo head to Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. Sent on assignment for a sports magazine, Duke and Gonzo quickly abandon their professional burdens for the thrilling promise of their trunk’s illicit contents, moving through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of smoking, swallowing, and snorting their way to the “fantastic possibilities” of American life. However, as drug delusion and reality become inseparable, Duke and Gonzo soon find that the Dream is closer to a Nightmare…

With rip-roaring humor and ferocious intensity,
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
vividly recounts the strange visions, bizarre encounters, and maddening paranoia that Duke and Gonzo face throughout their psychedelic journey, while providing an incisive commentary on the prevailing fantasies of American affluence and success. Even as he describes the drugs numbing Duke’s mind into foggy oblivion, Thompson captures the desperation and disillusionment of early 1970s America with brilliant clarity and precision. At once a confession and an indictment,
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
is a brilliant exposé on the frenzied lunacy of the dope decade.