Gonzo Republic: Hunter S. Thompson's America

by William Stephenson

Gonzo Republic looks at Hunter S. Thompson's complex relationship with America. Thompson was a patriot but also a stubborn individualist. Stephenson examines the whole range of Thompson's work, from his early reporting from the South American client states of the USA in the 1960s to his 21st-century internet columns on sport, politics and 9/11. Stephenson argues that Thompson inhabited, but was to some extent reacting against, the tradition of American individualism begun by the Founding Fathers and continued by Emerson and Thoreau. Thompson sought out the edge—the threshold of chaos and insanity—in order to define himself. His characters enact the same quest, travelling through the surreal landscape of his literary the Gonzo Republic.

Genres: Nonfiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first academic book on Thompson in twenty years, designed for both students and scholars. A critical study of the writing of Hunter S Thompson. It doesn't skirt over the controversies involving his life as these give his writing context but it does keep to its intended purpose of focusing on his work.

To be fair the extra star is because of the quality of the research/writing. It did nothing to make me actually want to read any more of Thompson's stuff that I felt I had to to write the review for my blog which you can read here.