- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; New edition edition (5 Dec 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006547842
- ISBN-13: 978-0006547846
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 500,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'The best stuff on the campaign I've read anywhere.' Nicholas Von Hoffman, Washington Post 'Obscene, horrid, repellent ... driving, urgent, candid, searing ... a fascinating, compelling book!' New York Post 'Hunter S. Thompson is the most creatively crazy and vulnerable of the New Journalists. His books are brilliant and honorable and valuable ... the literary equivalent of Cubism: all rules are broken.' Kurt Vonnegut Jr 'Gaze in awe ... Hunter Thompson does in his own mad way betray a profound democratic concern for the polity. And in its own mad way, it's darned refreshing.' New York Times 'Shocks you into laughter.' Detroit Free Press 'Unnerving!' Newsweek
Product Description
The best, the fastest, the hippest and the most unorthodox account ever published of the US presidential electoral process in all its madness and corruption. In 1972 Hunter S. Thompson, the creator and king of Gonzo journalism, covered the US presidential campaign for Rolling Stone magazine alongside the establishment newsmen of Washington. The result is a classic piece of subversive reportage and a fantastic ride on the rollercoaster of Hunter's uniquely savage imagination. In his own words, written years before Watergate: 'It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise.'
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First Sentence
OUTSIDE MY NEW FRONT DOOR the street is full of leaves. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
OUTSIDE MY NEW FRONT DOOR the street is full of leaves. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is probably a minority view but...I think 'Campaign Trail' is Thompson's best work. Why? Because it a perfect synthesis of satire, unique personal vision and presentation of the forces which shape our political circumstances. And it's f**king funny. Let me enlarge on those main 3 elements though...
Thompson's satire is like Swift's (read the 4th part of Gulliver's Travels and realise that it's more than a children's book if you want to know what I mean), in that its vicious tone is prompted by the author's own dissapointment at the way the more noble tendencies of man are constantly dirtied by human stupidity and greed.
Thompson's writing is probably familiar to most people who will read this review. Rest assured there is more 'Las Vegas' style writing which alone should keep some of you entertained if you don't like the politics.
Thirdly, you probably won't get a better book dealing with the 'noble' art of politics, how it is conducted, and why, despite its ofttimes rotten core, it is still important to have an awareness of the shitpool leaders of the free world have to swim in before being elected. And do you really expect them to smell of roses after this?
Not having had to write for a while has meant that I realise this review could be better. In summing up could I just say that 'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail' is an excellent and funny piece of reportage which deserves a place in the library of those any interest in modern writing.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fear & Loathing in LV was a classic right out of the gate but Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72' is Hunter's "Pet Sounds" or "Seargant Peppers". The Campaign Trail like LV has Hunter diving into all sorts of fun stuff (Booze, Reds, Ibogaine, Mary Jane, Good ole fashion opium); but this book seperates itself from just an all out wacked out mess to the tune of "You learn about what makes a Political machine work". In reading this book you get a crash course on how it really is to be on a campaign. You don't get a pampered victory trot like you see in all of your gov't 101 courses in college. WARNING you'll get your hands dirty with this one but it's so worth it. Hunter jumps on the right bandwagon, McGovern, and with it he gets inside the heads of the power men behind the machine. Up close interviews with a then unknown to the masses Gary Hart, Dougherty, Stearns and Frank Mankiewicz. You even get some Football talk with Public Swine #1 Nixon. It's about seedy motel/hotel rooms, Wild Turkey and enough speed to kill a Wooly Mammoth. Fear & Loathing on The Campaign Trail is what made Hunter an American Legend.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book - I have never read a better or more raw account of the low politics of election campaigns. Hunter S Thompson has an unmatched understanding of the forces that drive American politics and, although some tactics have changed, the book remains remarkably fresh over thirty years on. The historical perspective we now have on the figures (Nixon, McGovern, Humphrey, Mayor Daley, Gary Hart etc) may even add to the appeal of the book.
One minor quibble and a little warning. First, the book is a collection of dispatches written for the Rolling Stone and this inevitably means some repetition and an occasional disjointed feeling. Secondly, the book will appeal most to people with an interest in electoral politics - those who simply liked the good Doctor's style in the Rum Diaries, Hell's Angels or F&L in Las Vegas will still enjoy it but get a bit less out of it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail
Hunter Thompson is probably the most readable writer of the last 50 years, his journey reads like a nightmare, you can almost vision him going a little mad as he follows the 1972... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Stephen Howe
Easy to get lost
Despite being written by a massive egotist, the book has an appreciable and personal style. It is not a political tract and has the appearance of being very honest, even including... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dan
Loved This Book
After reading "Fear & Loathing in Las vegas" I tried this.
I will admit that it took me a while to get to grips with it as it's nothing like Las Vegas, it's quite... Read more
I will admit that it took me a while to get to grips with it as it's nothing like Las Vegas, it's quite... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Neil Gibbs
Hard work at times yet massively rewarding.
This was the second of Hunter's books that I'd read after Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Like most people I was expecting much of the same, however, the books are quite different. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2009 by BH Johnson
Excellent for what it was, but not timeless
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is an odd book if, like me, you have only a bare bones understanding of American politics. Read more
Published on 28 July 2009 by Christopher Fraser
Worth reading for HST fans...
The book is based round the 1972 presidential election, but most of the book covers the democratic primaries & candidate selection. Read more
Published on 2 July 2009 by M. Hickford
Amazing
This book is nothing short of amazing, because if it is brilliant today, it must have been baffling at the time. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by Carl Tornell
political science students only
Having read just about the entire output of HST I can honestly say I'd rather gargle with pins than read this again. Read more
Published on 23 July 2008 by nicholas hargreaves
A Raw and Hilarious Account of U.S. Politics
'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72' is a fantastic journey through a spectacle which grips the U.S. every four years. Read more
Published on 25 July 2006 by M. S. Bowden
Brilliant commentary on US politics in action
‘FALOTCT72’ is a series of articles originally written by Hunter Thompson for Rolling Stone magazine, in which he follows the race to elect a Democrat challenger to... Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2005 by Depressaholic
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