A thorough, timely, tautly written, and credible volume certain to be assigned by scores of journalism professors and a...
A fresh biography of a significant period in the life of Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005).
It was inevitable that Thompson’s canon would eventually reach the level of scholarly seriousness it had always merited. While many of his fans are still inspired to blaze off on desert road trips, spun on intoxicants and armed with copies of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his other important work beckons re-evaluation, even renaissance. In his second book, Literary Hub nonfiction editor Denevi (MFA Program/George Mason Univ.; Hyper: A Personal History of ADHD, 2014) carves out a decade of prime terrain, chronicling Thompson’s career from his first big break with Hells Angels through publication of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, when he grew into a prized misfit American journalist. Beginning with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the author stresses its impact on Thompson, whose already broad political worldview was quickly morphing into a personal mission: war against anything that threatened bedrock American principles. Whether chronicling Thompson’s coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, his running for sheriff as a “Freak Party” candidate, his time embedded with George McGovern’s 1972 press entourage, or the eventual resignation of Richard Nixon, Denevi hits all the key events, underscoring that Thompson was a serious journalist, driven by passion and motivated by injustice. The author clearly conducted significant research; a full quarter of the book is endnotes and source citations. Fleshing out the narrative with minutiae like what Thompson was listening to with the Hells Angels on first meeting (“The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”) or what he drank with right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan when they met (whiskey), the impressive details anchor the story with the kind of texture and scope that Thompson always appreciated.
A thorough, timely, tautly written, and credible volume certain to be assigned by scores of journalism professors and a great new book for fans ready to move past Thompson’s alter ego, Raoul Duke, to the next level.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5417-6794-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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