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The Gonzo Papers #4
Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie
"Hunter S. Thompson is to drug-addled, stream-of-consciousness, psycho-political black humor what Forrest Gump is to idiot savants."—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Since his 1972 trailblazing opus, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Hunter S. Thompson has reported the election story in his truly inimitable, just-short-of-libel style. In Better than Sex, Thompson hits the dusty trail again—without leaving home—yet manages to deliver a mind-bending view of the 1992 presidential campaign—in all of its horror, sacrifice, lust, and dubious glory. Complete with faxes sent to and received by candidate Clinton's top aides, and 100 percent pure gonzo screeds on Richard Nixon, George Bush, and Oliver North, here is the most true-blue campaign tell-all ever penned by man or beast.
"[Thompson] delivers yet another of his trademark cocktail mixes of unbelievable tales and dark observations about the sausage grind that is the U.S. presidential sweepstakes. Packed with egocentric anecdotes, musings and reprints of memos, faxes and scrawled handwritten notes...Memorable."--Los Angeles Daily News
"What endears Hunter Thompson to anyone who reads him is that he will say what others are afraid to....[He] is a master at the unlikely but invariably telling line that sums up a political figure....In a year when all politics is—to much of the public—a tendentious and pompous bore, it is time to read Hunter Thompson."—Richmond Times-Dispatch
"While Tom Wolfe mastered the technique of being a fly on the wall, Thompson mastered the art of being a fly in the ointment. He made himself a part of every story, made no apologies for it and thus produced far more honest reporting than any crusading member of the Fourth Estate....Thompson isn't afraid to take the hard medicine, nor is he bashful about dishing it out....He is still king of beasts, and his apocalyptic prophecies seldom miss their target."—Tulsa World
"This is a very, very funny book. No one can ever match Thompson in the vitriol department, and virtually nobody escapes his wrath."—The Flint Journal
Since his 1972 trailblazing opus, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Hunter S. Thompson has reported the election story in his truly inimitable, just-short-of-libel style. In Better than Sex, Thompson hits the dusty trail again—without leaving home—yet manages to deliver a mind-bending view of the 1992 presidential campaign—in all of its horror, sacrifice, lust, and dubious glory. Complete with faxes sent to and received by candidate Clinton's top aides, and 100 percent pure gonzo screeds on Richard Nixon, George Bush, and Oliver North, here is the most true-blue campaign tell-all ever penned by man or beast.
"[Thompson] delivers yet another of his trademark cocktail mixes of unbelievable tales and dark observations about the sausage grind that is the U.S. presidential sweepstakes. Packed with egocentric anecdotes, musings and reprints of memos, faxes and scrawled handwritten notes...Memorable."--Los Angeles Daily News
"What endears Hunter Thompson to anyone who reads him is that he will say what others are afraid to....[He] is a master at the unlikely but invariably telling line that sums up a political figure....In a year when all politics is—to much of the public—a tendentious and pompous bore, it is time to read Hunter Thompson."—Richmond Times-Dispatch
"While Tom Wolfe mastered the technique of being a fly on the wall, Thompson mastered the art of being a fly in the ointment. He made himself a part of every story, made no apologies for it and thus produced far more honest reporting than any crusading member of the Fourth Estate....Thompson isn't afraid to take the hard medicine, nor is he bashful about dishing it out....He is still king of beasts, and his apocalyptic prophecies seldom miss their target."—Tulsa World
"This is a very, very funny book. No one can ever match Thompson in the vitriol department, and virtually nobody escapes his wrath."—The Flint Journal
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
156 people are currently reading
4453 people want to read
About the author
Hunter S. Thompson
110 books10.9k followersHunter Stockton Thompson (1937-2005) was an American journalist and author, famous for his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become the central figures of their stories. He is also known for his promotion and use of psychedelics and other mind-altering substances (and to a lesser extent, alcohol and firearms), his libertarian views, and his iconoclastic contempt for authority. He committed suicide in 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 230 reviews
April 17, 2011
There are two kinds of Hunter S. Thompson fans: Those who get Gonzo tattoos over spring break and those who read his political stuff, like this book.
It's the former who embrace the drug-addled mythology of the man. The latter can appreciate the brilliant writer and social commentator the world lost to suicide in 2005.
Although I was just a young lad in '92, I still find his letters and essays fascinating. He knew how the real political process worked better than anyone else.
Those who want Gonzo madness should stick to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." If you want to know why Hunter S. Thompson remains a huge name in politics and social commentary, start with "Better than Sex."
It's the former who embrace the drug-addled mythology of the man. The latter can appreciate the brilliant writer and social commentator the world lost to suicide in 2005.
Although I was just a young lad in '92, I still find his letters and essays fascinating. He knew how the real political process worked better than anyone else.
Those who want Gonzo madness should stick to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." If you want to know why Hunter S. Thompson remains a huge name in politics and social commentary, start with "Better than Sex."
June 18, 2018
Re-reading this during election years fills me with a treacherous combination of bitterness, mirth and borderline-hysterical fear. Some things never change.
R.I.P. Hunter. I wish you could be here right now to witness this circus.
R.I.P. Hunter. I wish you could be here right now to witness this circus.
July 1, 2010
Hunter S. Thompson's brain on drugs circa 1966 - 1980s
Hunter S. Thompson's brain on drugs - 1990s - 2005
I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Hunter S. Thompson's reputation won't hold up. In fairness, I did go back and read sections of Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and will acknowledge that he could often write well. Whether he ever wrote well enough to merit the adulation he's been given is questionable.
However, I was stymied by the number of reviewers who gave this Godawful mess of a book 4 or 5 stars. There's nothing here. Thompson provides endless faxes, doodled upon/brainless notes, and unexplained pictures, which pretty much dominate a book long on opinions and short on explanations.
We're told, for example, that Bill Clinton is both dumb and humorless. Those are provocative assertions. Does Thompson provide any examples? No.
We're also told endlessly that Richard Nixon was a monster and Thompson prefaces the obituary he published in the Rolling Stone with the comment "we have lost our Satan. Richard Nixon has gone home to hell." Again, just telling us Nixon was evil incarnate, a beast, etc. seems to suffice. Ending his wildly organized coverage of the 1992 election with the Nixon obituary seems an odd choice, even if Nixon did conveniently die just as Thompson was throwing this book together.
I am a political junkie. I remember the 1992 election and found the dynamics among George Bush, Ross Perot, and Bill Clinton fascinating. If you're seeking to discover what made that election interesting in Thompson's book, you've gone to the wrong place. Instead, you'll get pages of re-hash from Thompson's book on the 1972 presidential election (Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72) and zillions of pointless anecdotes, featuring - of course, of course - Thompson, who can't seem to get enough of himself.
Although I read Hell's Angels many years ago I remember its often vivid description, and Thompson's explanation of how an "Angel" earns his red wings is still seared into my brain. So yes, Thompson can write, but that's not in evidence here.
When you really like an author, it can be hard to remain objective. You/I want to view everything this author writes as genius. ...But it just ain't so.
June 15, 2024
”But if you want a serious political movie, have a long look at Caligula, which a lot of people will tell you is the best. Caligula is a genuine monstrosity, a saga of greed, corruption, and failure that makes Nixon seem like an amateur, and Charles Manson a punk. Caligula was serious, and he had no use for journalists.”
The final volume of The Gonzo Papers, Better than Sex is but a pale shadow of the original collection, The Great Shark Hunt. Mostly covering the 1992 Presidential campaign of Clinton/Bush/Perot, it also has call backs to Thompson’s early ‘70s political adventures — his Freak Power campaign running for Pitkin County, Colorado sherif, and covering the 1972 Nixon/McGovern campaign. It’s full of Thompson’s signature rantings, embellishments, and ravings, so if you’re a HST fan, you may enjoy it. What it lacks is any fresh or valuable insight, or even any real behind the scenes stories to bring that ‘92 campaign to life. This one is all gonzo and zero journalism.
The final volume of The Gonzo Papers, Better than Sex is but a pale shadow of the original collection, The Great Shark Hunt. Mostly covering the 1992 Presidential campaign of Clinton/Bush/Perot, it also has call backs to Thompson’s early ‘70s political adventures — his Freak Power campaign running for Pitkin County, Colorado sherif, and covering the 1972 Nixon/McGovern campaign. It’s full of Thompson’s signature rantings, embellishments, and ravings, so if you’re a HST fan, you may enjoy it. What it lacks is any fresh or valuable insight, or even any real behind the scenes stories to bring that ‘92 campaign to life. This one is all gonzo and zero journalism.
June 21, 2009
"No wonder the poor bastards from Generation X have lost their sense of humor about politics. Some things are not funny to the doomed..."
Though he tried desperately to avoid it, Hunter S. Thompson in this book again casts himself into the pit of despair that is modern politics. It is "Fear and Loathing" all over again, but this time on the Campaign Trail '92. He was lured in partly by his hatred of Bush and the hope that he could be beaten, and partly because of his addiction to politics; the quick highs, the cheap rush that is better than sex.
Luckily for us, Hunter S. hadn't lost any of the weirdness, the paranoid edge, the rabid fervour and passion that made his "gonzo" journalism so different. He may have done a few less drugs, shot a few less typewriters, but he hadn't lost his anger. Better Than Sex is the account of a desperate man trying "to control his environment" the only way he knows how. His mission: get rid of Bush at all costs. To accomplish this, he reverses his initial support of Clinton in favour of Ross Perot's campaign after Clinton claims "he never inhaled" (a plain outrage to an admitted "inhaler" like H.S.T.) only to return to support of Clinton when he was asked to sign an undated letter of resignation for Mr. Perot, whom he later referred to as a "wretched, shit-eating little swine." It was plainly a case of wanting to vote for the "not-Bush" candidate, or, as the author puts it, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
And so in a barrage of faxes, articles, memos to editors, and intoxicated diatribes in campaign stop bars, Thompson perpetrates his war on Bush, never stopping to contemplate whether Clinton will be any better. There are some hilariously ill-advised faxes to the Vice-President of CNN, the campaign manager for Clinton, one to Hillary herself--Hunter S. is a faxaholic, and he generally just sends off the first thing that comes to mind, often faxing again later to apologize for the outrage of the previous fax. It is funny stuff, often hand-written, and all are included in their original form.
After the euphoria of the Bush loss wears off, the author is given to brooding about the times to come, even musing that the Republicans might have deliberately chosen to take Bush down so as to avoid responsibility for the death throes of the American economy which are surely to come; let Clinton take the fall for Reaganomics and have a new man ready for '96. Not very far-fetched.
But then again, Hunter S. was always a political doom-sayer. The original Fear and Loathing was that of Nixon, whose death was cause for a brutal eulogy in the last section of this book. Hunter digs him up and stomps on his corpse. The original gonzo journalism sprung out of a hatred for Nixon. On the campaign trail in '72, all he could think about was getting rid of him. Then with The Great Shark Hunt, Thompson lamented the fact that there were no Great Leaders left. Not the kind of career politicians who run for office today, but the kind of man who was elected to office by a swell of popular support, because of his strength of character, his integrity, ingenuity, and ability to lead.
So Gonzo journalism comes full circle, with an intense fear and loathing of Bush and everything he stands for, and a farewell to his old nemesis Richard Nixon. He got rid of both, and yet he still despairs for the future. The "Great Shark Hunt" continues...
"Historians do not call the final ten years of any century 'the Decadence" for no reason. It is always a doomed and dissolute time, and the end of the American Century will be no different... Generation X got off easy compared to the hideous fate of the poor bastards in Generation Z. They will be like steerage passengers on the S.S. Titanic, trapped in the watery bowels of a sinking 'unsinkable ship.'" In retrospect, those were prophetic words.
Though he tried desperately to avoid it, Hunter S. Thompson in this book again casts himself into the pit of despair that is modern politics. It is "Fear and Loathing" all over again, but this time on the Campaign Trail '92. He was lured in partly by his hatred of Bush and the hope that he could be beaten, and partly because of his addiction to politics; the quick highs, the cheap rush that is better than sex.
Luckily for us, Hunter S. hadn't lost any of the weirdness, the paranoid edge, the rabid fervour and passion that made his "gonzo" journalism so different. He may have done a few less drugs, shot a few less typewriters, but he hadn't lost his anger. Better Than Sex is the account of a desperate man trying "to control his environment" the only way he knows how. His mission: get rid of Bush at all costs. To accomplish this, he reverses his initial support of Clinton in favour of Ross Perot's campaign after Clinton claims "he never inhaled" (a plain outrage to an admitted "inhaler" like H.S.T.) only to return to support of Clinton when he was asked to sign an undated letter of resignation for Mr. Perot, whom he later referred to as a "wretched, shit-eating little swine." It was plainly a case of wanting to vote for the "not-Bush" candidate, or, as the author puts it, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
And so in a barrage of faxes, articles, memos to editors, and intoxicated diatribes in campaign stop bars, Thompson perpetrates his war on Bush, never stopping to contemplate whether Clinton will be any better. There are some hilariously ill-advised faxes to the Vice-President of CNN, the campaign manager for Clinton, one to Hillary herself--Hunter S. is a faxaholic, and he generally just sends off the first thing that comes to mind, often faxing again later to apologize for the outrage of the previous fax. It is funny stuff, often hand-written, and all are included in their original form.
After the euphoria of the Bush loss wears off, the author is given to brooding about the times to come, even musing that the Republicans might have deliberately chosen to take Bush down so as to avoid responsibility for the death throes of the American economy which are surely to come; let Clinton take the fall for Reaganomics and have a new man ready for '96. Not very far-fetched.
But then again, Hunter S. was always a political doom-sayer. The original Fear and Loathing was that of Nixon, whose death was cause for a brutal eulogy in the last section of this book. Hunter digs him up and stomps on his corpse. The original gonzo journalism sprung out of a hatred for Nixon. On the campaign trail in '72, all he could think about was getting rid of him. Then with The Great Shark Hunt, Thompson lamented the fact that there were no Great Leaders left. Not the kind of career politicians who run for office today, but the kind of man who was elected to office by a swell of popular support, because of his strength of character, his integrity, ingenuity, and ability to lead.
So Gonzo journalism comes full circle, with an intense fear and loathing of Bush and everything he stands for, and a farewell to his old nemesis Richard Nixon. He got rid of both, and yet he still despairs for the future. The "Great Shark Hunt" continues...
"Historians do not call the final ten years of any century 'the Decadence" for no reason. It is always a doomed and dissolute time, and the end of the American Century will be no different... Generation X got off easy compared to the hideous fate of the poor bastards in Generation Z. They will be like steerage passengers on the S.S. Titanic, trapped in the watery bowels of a sinking 'unsinkable ship.'" In retrospect, those were prophetic words.
July 13, 2013
This wasn't bad. I mean, it is HST, so it is bound to be at least as good as his other, later books, which basically all read like someone trying to write like Hunter S. Thompson.
My problems with it were many, and here are a few:
1. This book is completely outdated, and not in the cool sort of retro-y way that old sci-fi gets after its projected "future date" has come and gone. No. Dated in a way that makes it almost impossible to care about half of what he is talking about. Clinton. Ross Perot...and so on.
2. The memo parts were kind of stupid, and those that weren't stupid were almost impossible to read. Seriously, bad copies of hand-scrawled faxes from people with doctor-style handwriting? Bad move. Bad move.
3. Again, this book sort of reads like it was written by someone trying to write like Hunter S. Thompson.All of the "Swine" and "Rat Bastard" stuff, along with the "Ho, ho, Bubba" makes this seem like it was ghost written by a parrot that just sat there spouting out the same handful of catch-phrases over and over again.
However, I liked it. I wouldn't read it again. But I liked it. If you like Hunter S. Thompson, you will like it too. It is exactly like everything else he wrote before he killed himself.
My problems with it were many, and here are a few:
1. This book is completely outdated, and not in the cool sort of retro-y way that old sci-fi gets after its projected "future date" has come and gone. No. Dated in a way that makes it almost impossible to care about half of what he is talking about. Clinton. Ross Perot...and so on.
2. The memo parts were kind of stupid, and those that weren't stupid were almost impossible to read. Seriously, bad copies of hand-scrawled faxes from people with doctor-style handwriting? Bad move. Bad move.
3. Again, this book sort of reads like it was written by someone trying to write like Hunter S. Thompson.All of the "Swine" and "Rat Bastard" stuff, along with the "Ho, ho, Bubba" makes this seem like it was ghost written by a parrot that just sat there spouting out the same handful of catch-phrases over and over again.
However, I liked it. I wouldn't read it again. But I liked it. If you like Hunter S. Thompson, you will like it too. It is exactly like everything else he wrote before he killed himself.
August 17, 2015
The most hilarious book on American politics, bubba. Ye gods! I am convinced that journalism is the career for me. Either that or I'm a clueless bastard heading into the heart of the enemy camp, ready to commit South Indian jihad for reasons flimsier than bollywood's sense of plotting.
November 30, 2018
Thompson's romp through the 1992 Presidential campaign was as enjoyable as the title of the book is misleading, since Thompson's conclusion is that sex is actually better than being a political junkie.
June 29, 2021
Worth it just for his article on the death of Richard Nixon, that one alone sparks such fond memories of back when he was on top form. The rest of this book is a pitiful assembly of notes, letters and memos that have a vague understanding of the Bill Clinton rise to power. Simply put, though, he doesn't care. He was at that stage in his career where piecing together a selection like this probably felt like a chore. It was certainly a chore to read through.
March 16, 2025
The old sweaty car salesman that we used to call the enemy has died and new enemies are rising. Bush senior is an evil war mongerer. Mr Bill is a humourless bastard who can't resist forcing and exploiting women to rest by his crotch. They call him Suckee Suckee and somehow he is the better option. Inhale this.
September 9, 2023
(Probably something more on the way to 4 stars) not his best but still some amusing, if deranged and almost incomprehensible, political insights. The Nixon obituary at the end was definitely a bonus.
March 26, 2024
Kind of nonsense but kind of fun. I am glad to no longer get weird looks on the subway.
Read
September 18, 2019Well, this was fun. Intelligence, sarcasm, & well-done absurdism as only Thompson can offer.
November 16, 2021
HST is so f-ing funny lmao. About the '92 presidential campaign "it was dumb on dumb. George Bush looked more and more like some kind of half-eaten placenta left behind at the birth of Ronald Reagan" lololol
April 21, 2017
Some say that the high obtained from a successful political campaign is “better than sex,” but not Hunter S. Thompson. He was certainly a political campaign junkie, but even Thompson couldn’t place politics above carnal pleasure. And he would know a thing or two about politics, having ran for Sheriff (on the “Freak Power” vote - losing by a slim margin) in Pitkin County, Colorado and closely following and reporting on the 1972 Presidential Campaign.
I have almost completed reading the Thompson canon, and this was one of the last titles that I have read. (Although I have only reviewed three of his works, I have read most of them.) And it is one of his most unique works. Why? Because it has a lot of clarity, and not so much wackiness as works like Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diary.
Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie was written in the 1990s, and a lot of the book centers around the 1992 Presidential Campaign. I have a feeling that Thompson may have been living a slightly saner life in the 90s than he did in the 50s through the 80s. It certainly shows in his writing style. And that made this book extremely easy to read and quick to finish, although it seemed to lack a certain personality that I enjoy finding in his works.
The book consists of magazine articles and essays Thompson wrote about the Clinton election, but also includes a large portion of faxes he sent to various politicians, journalists and celebrities about the subject. These faxes are interesting to read because they are mostly angry scribbles that are nearly as brief as the modern text message.
As the fourth volume in The Gonzo Papers, this is only work that is composed of almost entirely new material. Along with the clarity in Thompson’s writing, that makes Better Than Sex a very interesting read for the Thompson junkie, and I highly recommend giving it a try.
4/5 Stars. 247 pages. Published 1994.
I have almost completed reading the Thompson canon, and this was one of the last titles that I have read. (Although I have only reviewed three of his works, I have read most of them.) And it is one of his most unique works. Why? Because it has a lot of clarity, and not so much wackiness as works like Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diary.
Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie was written in the 1990s, and a lot of the book centers around the 1992 Presidential Campaign. I have a feeling that Thompson may have been living a slightly saner life in the 90s than he did in the 50s through the 80s. It certainly shows in his writing style. And that made this book extremely easy to read and quick to finish, although it seemed to lack a certain personality that I enjoy finding in his works.
The book consists of magazine articles and essays Thompson wrote about the Clinton election, but also includes a large portion of faxes he sent to various politicians, journalists and celebrities about the subject. These faxes are interesting to read because they are mostly angry scribbles that are nearly as brief as the modern text message.
As the fourth volume in The Gonzo Papers, this is only work that is composed of almost entirely new material. Along with the clarity in Thompson’s writing, that makes Better Than Sex a very interesting read for the Thompson junkie, and I highly recommend giving it a try.
4/5 Stars. 247 pages. Published 1994.
February 28, 2022
A series of memos, musings, faxes and philosophy, Better than Sex captures the thrills of the '92 election, but lacks the (relative) coherence of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
Hunter S. Thompson was a gonzo monk - he led an extreme, albeit bizarre lifestyle, repulsing millions and attracting millions more. Despite his provocative views, his unique outlook on America and its corrupt political system has earned him a place as a countercultural icon. His pro-gun, pro-union, anti-authority views made him too complicated to fit into a box. This what drew me to read this particularly - the 1992 election marked a turning point in US history - the Democratic party finally betraying average worker and presenting themselves simply as a slicker, metropolitan alternative to the GOP. In Better than Sex, Thompson showcases his signature style, fast-paced and filled with punchy observations on the state of the US and the Clinton campaign. He revels in writing, and it shows.
The book's greatest weakness is its structure - as insightful as his correspondence is with TV execs, pundits and politicians are (his encounters with Bill Clinton are as hilarious as they are bizarre), the form can get tiring after a while. While his reporting on the '72 election was anchored around his vitriolic disdain for Richard Nixon and personal appreciation for George McGovern, Better than Sex rarely stays on a single subject long enough to make the book more than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Hunter S. Thompson was a gonzo monk - he led an extreme, albeit bizarre lifestyle, repulsing millions and attracting millions more. Despite his provocative views, his unique outlook on America and its corrupt political system has earned him a place as a countercultural icon. His pro-gun, pro-union, anti-authority views made him too complicated to fit into a box. This what drew me to read this particularly - the 1992 election marked a turning point in US history - the Democratic party finally betraying average worker and presenting themselves simply as a slicker, metropolitan alternative to the GOP. In Better than Sex, Thompson showcases his signature style, fast-paced and filled with punchy observations on the state of the US and the Clinton campaign. He revels in writing, and it shows.
The book's greatest weakness is its structure - as insightful as his correspondence is with TV execs, pundits and politicians are (his encounters with Bill Clinton are as hilarious as they are bizarre), the form can get tiring after a while. While his reporting on the '72 election was anchored around his vitriolic disdain for Richard Nixon and personal appreciation for George McGovern, Better than Sex rarely stays on a single subject long enough to make the book more than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
November 25, 2024
Один из последних изданных при жизни автора больших сборников его статей, в которых он, в том числе, следит за президентской компанией Клинтона и рассказывает о собственной попытке избраться шерифом округа.
При всем очевидном уме, таланте и остром языке Хантера Томпсона, читая подряд его наблюдения за пятьдесят лет, очень бросается в глаза, что писал он одно и тоже. Вечные поиски хаоса под каждым фонарем или рукотворное его создание, поверхностные выводы, необоснованные утверждения, гротескное деление на хороших и плохих. Полицейские - свиньи, политики - фашисты, конец света уже за углом: так на протяжение полувека со впечатляющей ловкостью он натягивал одну и ту же сову на глобус, не сильно парясь о деталях. В небольших дозах почти всегда забавно, да и проглатывается легко, поскольку излагать Томпсон умеет, но вот то, что тридцатилетний журналист стилем и пониманием ничем не отличается от шестидесятилетнего, удручает.
При всем очевидном уме, таланте и остром языке Хантера Томпсона, читая подряд его наблюдения за пятьдесят лет, очень бросается в глаза, что писал он одно и тоже. Вечные поиски хаоса под каждым фонарем или рукотворное его создание, поверхностные выводы, необоснованные утверждения, гротескное деление на хороших и плохих. Полицейские - свиньи, политики - фашисты, конец света уже за углом: так на протяжение полувека со впечатляющей ловкостью он натягивал одну и ту же сову на глобус, не сильно парясь о деталях. В небольших дозах почти всегда забавно, да и проглатывается легко, поскольку излагать Томпсон умеет, но вот то, что тридцатилетний журналист стилем и пониманием ничем не отличается от шестидесятилетнего, удручает.
January 23, 2018
Thompson's political writing is his best writing, and here we get a good dose of /gonzo/ journalism; that is, fiction that uses the real situations and real characters and draws the emotional truth out of them. This is also interesting because it features contemporaneous faxes and notes written to campaign officials that ends up sort of acknowledging that, yep, this wasn't all in Thompson's head - he really had access to powerful people and really dug in. He's lost some of the manic energy that he had while battling Nixon, but his tired and bitter cynicism here shows his age and experience. It's a good collection, and not only for the Thompson completist, but for anyone interested in campaign politics.
February 9, 2009
It has been too long, too dry, too boring, back to Gonzo...
Aptly sub-labeled "Confessions of a Political Junkie," Hunter delves into the political hysteria of the 1992 presidential race. He dives into the realms of personality and character beyond the generic banter of other reporters and news agencies.
His appeal is unsurpassed, whether you agree with him or not, you're consumed by his writing. Reality and fantasy mesh into his reality and shape his perceptions of this political world.
The most intriguing part of the confessions outlines his political agenda when he ran for Sheriff in Aspen, Colorado. Far too funny and entertaining not to read.
Aptly sub-labeled "Confessions of a Political Junkie," Hunter delves into the political hysteria of the 1992 presidential race. He dives into the realms of personality and character beyond the generic banter of other reporters and news agencies.
His appeal is unsurpassed, whether you agree with him or not, you're consumed by his writing. Reality and fantasy mesh into his reality and shape his perceptions of this political world.
The most intriguing part of the confessions outlines his political agenda when he ran for Sheriff in Aspen, Colorado. Far too funny and entertaining not to read.
January 26, 2015
The final days of George Bush and the rise of Bill Clinton is the focus of this volume of Hunter S. Thompson's work. Along with his very special obituary for his (and everyone's) nemesis Richard Nixon, this is definitely not to be missed. Classic Thompson unleashed.
July 24, 2017
Weird, but that’s to be expected. Great political and social commentary by HST.
October 15, 2017
This is the first political book I’ve read and I quite enjoyed it. Being a fan of Fear and Loathing, I enjoy Thompson’s writing style.
August 27, 2019
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3236064.html
One of the classic accounts of American politics, not quite as remarkable as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 because the election of 1992 was much less remarkable, and also frankly because Thompson's own style was becoming much more self-indulgent. Thompson's drug-fuelled raging stream of consciousness writing comes over now as rather white and male. He picks up on the importance of Hillary Clinton, but fails to really interview her. The one African-American who is mentioned in passing is Roosevelt Grier, who he utterly unfairly blames for the death of Robert F. Kennedy. He fumes about the fundamental evil of George H.W. Bush without really proving the case.
And yet there are moments of sheer genius. It starts with a flashback to the failed McGovern campaign which is basically the set-up for a punchline:
Another thing I still remember from that horrible day in November of ’72 was that some dingbat named Clinton was said to be almost single-handedly responsible for losing 222 counties in Texas—including Waco, where he was McGovern’s regional coordinator—and was “terminated without pay, with prejudice,” and sent back home to Arkansas “with his tail between his legs,” as an aide put it.
“We’ll never see that stupid bastard again,” one McGovern aide muttered. “Clinton—Bill Clinton. Yeah. Let’s remember that name. He’ll never work again, not in Washington.”
A passing reference brought me to H.L. Mencken's obituary of William Jennings Bryan, which makes it clear how much Thompson's style owed to Mencken's writing:
Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest. His career brought him into contact with the first men of his time; he preferred the company of rustic ignoramuses. It was hard to believe, watching him at Dayton, that he had traveled, that he had been received in civilized societies, that he had been a high officer of state. He seemed only a poor clod like those around him, deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning, all human dignity, all beauty, all fine and noble things. He was a peasant come home to the dung-pile. Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not.
There is a hilarious passage describing Bill Clinton's supposedly odd behaviour at his first interview with Thompson, later explained by a mutual friend as the effect of Thompson's eerie resemblance to Clinton's childhood nemesis (way too good to be true, alas). I had also completely forgotten that Ross Perot's excuse for dropping out of the 1992 presidential election was that the Republicans were planning to spoil his daughter's wedding by distributing fake compromising photographs of her. Yes, really.
The book ends with a postscript written after the death of Richard Nixon, Thompson's old nemesis, in 1994. For all that Thompson says he hated him, there is evidence of some respect between the two:
Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.
Nixon laughed when I told him this. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you.”
Anyway, I should get hold of the better, earlier books of the Gonzo Papers. It's a little sad to get the sense from reading that Thompson's powers were waning, and that he knew it.
One of the classic accounts of American politics, not quite as remarkable as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 because the election of 1992 was much less remarkable, and also frankly because Thompson's own style was becoming much more self-indulgent. Thompson's drug-fuelled raging stream of consciousness writing comes over now as rather white and male. He picks up on the importance of Hillary Clinton, but fails to really interview her. The one African-American who is mentioned in passing is Roosevelt Grier, who he utterly unfairly blames for the death of Robert F. Kennedy. He fumes about the fundamental evil of George H.W. Bush without really proving the case.
And yet there are moments of sheer genius. It starts with a flashback to the failed McGovern campaign which is basically the set-up for a punchline:
Another thing I still remember from that horrible day in November of ’72 was that some dingbat named Clinton was said to be almost single-handedly responsible for losing 222 counties in Texas—including Waco, where he was McGovern’s regional coordinator—and was “terminated without pay, with prejudice,” and sent back home to Arkansas “with his tail between his legs,” as an aide put it.
“We’ll never see that stupid bastard again,” one McGovern aide muttered. “Clinton—Bill Clinton. Yeah. Let’s remember that name. He’ll never work again, not in Washington.”
A passing reference brought me to H.L. Mencken's obituary of William Jennings Bryan, which makes it clear how much Thompson's style owed to Mencken's writing:
Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest. His career brought him into contact with the first men of his time; he preferred the company of rustic ignoramuses. It was hard to believe, watching him at Dayton, that he had traveled, that he had been received in civilized societies, that he had been a high officer of state. He seemed only a poor clod like those around him, deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning, all human dignity, all beauty, all fine and noble things. He was a peasant come home to the dung-pile. Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not.
There is a hilarious passage describing Bill Clinton's supposedly odd behaviour at his first interview with Thompson, later explained by a mutual friend as the effect of Thompson's eerie resemblance to Clinton's childhood nemesis (way too good to be true, alas). I had also completely forgotten that Ross Perot's excuse for dropping out of the 1992 presidential election was that the Republicans were planning to spoil his daughter's wedding by distributing fake compromising photographs of her. Yes, really.
The book ends with a postscript written after the death of Richard Nixon, Thompson's old nemesis, in 1994. For all that Thompson says he hated him, there is evidence of some respect between the two:
Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.
Nixon laughed when I told him this. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you.”
Anyway, I should get hold of the better, earlier books of the Gonzo Papers. It's a little sad to get the sense from reading that Thompson's powers were waning, and that he knew it.
February 26, 2024
My father, a political junkie and news-addict the likes of which I've still never met again, had this book proudly sitting in the glass display case behind his desk in the basement office where he spent most of his time. As a child, the mention of sex (and something better than it) made me feel ambiguous shame and fear towards my father and our basement. But his office was not a sex dungeon and this book is not about intercourse. No, our basement was a news den and this book is about being addicted to politics.
Dad watched the news throughout every waking hour of the day. He would start the day with MSNBC, watch Fox in the middle of the day (to keep an eye on the enemy), and end his day with Bill Maher. I don't know that I could easily summarize his political views. His heroes were Anthony Bourdain and Neil Young. He was a 'facts not feelings' kind of guy that believed in climate change and freedom of the press, but would have groaned at cancel culture and internet activism. He would have written an op-ed on the need to protect trans kids, but rolled his eyes if I introduced him to a non-binary friend. He was a contrarian that, above all else, wanted to be right.
I don't think I fully understood the way he experienced the news or how he felt about the violent absurdity of the world until I read this book. In the same style Hunter S. Thompson sent erratic handwritten notes to White House Press Secretaries and CNN executives, my father wrote on yellow sticky notes with black sharpie and shoved similarly strange opinions in magazines and newspapers throughout the house- he didn't have the audience that Dr. Thompson did.
It is clear now that Hunter S. Thompson belongs on the same list as Bourdain and Young. In fact, I think HST was more than a hero to my father. Dad emulated Mr. Hunter more than anyone else in our cultural cannon. They were both political junkies and alcoholics. Unfortunately for both of us, HST was more successful at both.
I don't know if I'd recommend this book, but I'm glad I read it. It was probably the best piece of political writing out of 1994, but it's 30 years later and it's hard to know how the world would receive a book like this post-2016. Maybe the better question is how would HST and Dad received the world, not how the world would have received them. If I had to guess, Trump's election would have been fun for them in the beginning. But watching him win and, more importantly, get inaugurated would have put them both on the edge. I don't think either HST or my father would have liked to live in that reality. Luckily, we don't have to know how they would have reacted. They were spared bearing witness to the rapid degradation of our democracy.
Would recommend if you're a news junkie or an unknown half-brother of mine fathered by one Ronn Dale Wiehler.
Other thoughts on the book:
1. Amazing to see how much correspondence HST actually had with the Clinton Campaign and eventually the White House.
2. HST is actually crazy. The medley of fiction, exaggeration, and truth, is hard to decipher at first, but wildly entertaining.
3. So many names in this book were once so relevant, and now, I don't recognize even a quarter of them. Politics moves fast. Speed is addicting. And, Bubba, the swine in Washington will cut you loose and leave you behind if you don't keep up.
Dad watched the news throughout every waking hour of the day. He would start the day with MSNBC, watch Fox in the middle of the day (to keep an eye on the enemy), and end his day with Bill Maher. I don't know that I could easily summarize his political views. His heroes were Anthony Bourdain and Neil Young. He was a 'facts not feelings' kind of guy that believed in climate change and freedom of the press, but would have groaned at cancel culture and internet activism. He would have written an op-ed on the need to protect trans kids, but rolled his eyes if I introduced him to a non-binary friend. He was a contrarian that, above all else, wanted to be right.
I don't think I fully understood the way he experienced the news or how he felt about the violent absurdity of the world until I read this book. In the same style Hunter S. Thompson sent erratic handwritten notes to White House Press Secretaries and CNN executives, my father wrote on yellow sticky notes with black sharpie and shoved similarly strange opinions in magazines and newspapers throughout the house- he didn't have the audience that Dr. Thompson did.
It is clear now that Hunter S. Thompson belongs on the same list as Bourdain and Young. In fact, I think HST was more than a hero to my father. Dad emulated Mr. Hunter more than anyone else in our cultural cannon. They were both political junkies and alcoholics. Unfortunately for both of us, HST was more successful at both.
I don't know if I'd recommend this book, but I'm glad I read it. It was probably the best piece of political writing out of 1994, but it's 30 years later and it's hard to know how the world would receive a book like this post-2016. Maybe the better question is how would HST and Dad received the world, not how the world would have received them. If I had to guess, Trump's election would have been fun for them in the beginning. But watching him win and, more importantly, get inaugurated would have put them both on the edge. I don't think either HST or my father would have liked to live in that reality. Luckily, we don't have to know how they would have reacted. They were spared bearing witness to the rapid degradation of our democracy.
Would recommend if you're a news junkie or an unknown half-brother of mine fathered by one Ronn Dale Wiehler.
Other thoughts on the book:
1. Amazing to see how much correspondence HST actually had with the Clinton Campaign and eventually the White House.
2. HST is actually crazy. The medley of fiction, exaggeration, and truth, is hard to decipher at first, but wildly entertaining.
3. So many names in this book were once so relevant, and now, I don't recognize even a quarter of them. Politics moves fast. Speed is addicting. And, Bubba, the swine in Washington will cut you loose and leave you behind if you don't keep up.
April 16, 2024
Love this book. Is politics better than sex?
Alike some of Thompson’s other works it can go a bit mad and nonsensical when a few of the methadrone fuelled memos and letters get thrown in. However, when the writing is fuelled by something a bit less serious it can be compelling to read.
Politics is an addiction, I guess he’s right. Important people will sit at desks, or in studios, writing think pieces, or talking endlessly into seemingly larger and larger microphones recording podcasts about Tony Blair or Liz truss or Trump. Lots of Trump. Pondering historical campaign strategies or great ideological changes, changes in industry? why not?
But in 1990, when Bill Clinton responded to questioning going into the democratic primaries of his alleged marjuana use during his studies at Oxford, and his response was “but I never inhaled” and that saw him gain 7 points in the polls. There’s no science or discussion nessescary to explain that. No sherlocking this one with your favourite leprechaun spy podcast host extraordinaire, Rory Stewart. This is just the motion. And as Thompson puts it “an entire generation hangs on Bills ability to breathe in” “that could way heavy on him” he remarks.
Yet again, not sure where I am with this. But in a nation where our sex nor politics is at its best, maybe our leaders should take a leaf out of Hunter Thompsons and bill Clinton’s books alike and start smoking weed. Providing they don’t inhale, of course.
Alike some of Thompson’s other works it can go a bit mad and nonsensical when a few of the methadrone fuelled memos and letters get thrown in. However, when the writing is fuelled by something a bit less serious it can be compelling to read.
Politics is an addiction, I guess he’s right. Important people will sit at desks, or in studios, writing think pieces, or talking endlessly into seemingly larger and larger microphones recording podcasts about Tony Blair or Liz truss or Trump. Lots of Trump. Pondering historical campaign strategies or great ideological changes, changes in industry? why not?
But in 1990, when Bill Clinton responded to questioning going into the democratic primaries of his alleged marjuana use during his studies at Oxford, and his response was “but I never inhaled” and that saw him gain 7 points in the polls. There’s no science or discussion nessescary to explain that. No sherlocking this one with your favourite leprechaun spy podcast host extraordinaire, Rory Stewart. This is just the motion. And as Thompson puts it “an entire generation hangs on Bills ability to breathe in” “that could way heavy on him” he remarks.
Yet again, not sure where I am with this. But in a nation where our sex nor politics is at its best, maybe our leaders should take a leaf out of Hunter Thompsons and bill Clinton’s books alike and start smoking weed. Providing they don’t inhale, of course.
April 12, 2025
Better Than Sex is peak Hunter S. Thompson — a fever dream of American politics told through the warped, brilliant mind of gonzo journalism’s wildest outlaw. In this delightfully chaotic chronicle of the 1992 presidential campaign, Thompson tackles the rise of Bill Clinton with blistering wit, scathing cynicism, and that unmistakable cocktail of bourbon-soaked bravado and barely-contained despair. Through manic faxes, angry rants, and surreal tangents on Nixon, Bush Sr., and even Oliver North, he captures the moral rot and media circus of the era with unnerving clarity.
It’s not a coherent narrative — and it never pretends to be. Instead, it’s a scrapbook of rage and ridiculousness, studded with one-liners that make you snort and shudders that make you think. Thompson blurs the line between journalist and participant, screaming into the abyss with both middle fingers raised and a typewriter clacking.
This book isn’t for the faint-hearted or the politically delicate, but if you like your truth raw, unfiltered, and slightly insane, it’s a ride worth taking. HST may not find salvation in politics, but he sure as hell exposes its madness.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Unhinged, brilliant, and depressingly still relevant.
It’s not a coherent narrative — and it never pretends to be. Instead, it’s a scrapbook of rage and ridiculousness, studded with one-liners that make you snort and shudders that make you think. Thompson blurs the line between journalist and participant, screaming into the abyss with both middle fingers raised and a typewriter clacking.
This book isn’t for the faint-hearted or the politically delicate, but if you like your truth raw, unfiltered, and slightly insane, it’s a ride worth taking. HST may not find salvation in politics, but he sure as hell exposes its madness.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Unhinged, brilliant, and depressingly still relevant.
April 19, 2020
Spoiler alert: politics is (are?) not better than sex (at least for me, hopefully also for you). HST nailed it, whether you agree with him or not. Drugs are cool, politics are cooler, rename Aspen to Fat City, but whatever you do, don’t inhale. Real men don’t inhale. Saleh.
Doc, I wonder if/wish you could see what is going on now. We’re totally continuing to blow it and need your insights. I never knew you, yet you’re sorely missed.
Doc, I wonder if/wish you could see what is going on now. We’re totally continuing to blow it and need your insights. I never knew you, yet you’re sorely missed.
March 6, 2025
Not as concise as ‘72 and you can tell a lot of just faces thrown together but once it gets more Gonzo it gets going. The epilogue on Nixon goes so hard too.
June 27, 2023
Hunter S. Thompson is masterful. His vernacular is unbelievable. It’s playful yet intelligent, batshit-crazy yet completely intentional. He’s my favorite voice in literature at the moment. Loved the scanned-in photos, news clippings, fax correspondences, etc. Dragged at points but how could it not with the source material being so stale and particularly uninteresting to me. Gonna read more Thompson ASAP.
November 12, 2012
This is Hunter Thompson's coverage of the 1992 U.S. Presidential campaign and elections, with some flashbacks to his own 1970 campaign for Sheriff of Aspen County in Colorado.
As usual, he jumps right in as a participant as well as a reporter, so nothing he writes is even remotely unbiased, an lots of probably fictionalized incidents. In this case, he brings a group of Rolling Stone editors to Little Rock to meet with Bill Clinton and from there on refers to Clinton's campaign as "we" including himself and continually gives them advice on how to beat Bush.
The book is filled with written narrative, including many tangents into other subjects, plus lots of pages of faxes sent back and forth between him and his editors and him and Clinton's campaign.
Between the middle and the end he contradicts himself, as to whether the Republicans will stop at nothing for Bush to win and later that the Republican leaders threw the election, since the economy was bad and times were bad and they wanted a Democrat in the White House for four years to take the blame so they could come back stronger in 1996.
Some things he wrote were certainly dated, knowing now how the 1996 and 2000 elections turned out, and knowing Clinton's later scandal in the Oval Office, although Thompson practically predicted that...
At the end is a late addition to the book, Thompson's vicious, nasty obituary of Richard Nixon, who died after he finished the book.
Overall it's entertaining, almost like being in the campaign, but not nearly as good as his 60's and 70's work, including his campaign classic "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972".
The last page of the book is a fake newspaper clipping "Dr. Hunter Thompson announced to a cheering crowd of editors, brokers and elite political professionals in Chicago today that 'politics is not better than sex'".
As usual, he jumps right in as a participant as well as a reporter, so nothing he writes is even remotely unbiased, an lots of probably fictionalized incidents. In this case, he brings a group of Rolling Stone editors to Little Rock to meet with Bill Clinton and from there on refers to Clinton's campaign as "we" including himself and continually gives them advice on how to beat Bush.
The book is filled with written narrative, including many tangents into other subjects, plus lots of pages of faxes sent back and forth between him and his editors and him and Clinton's campaign.
Between the middle and the end he contradicts himself, as to whether the Republicans will stop at nothing for Bush to win and later that the Republican leaders threw the election, since the economy was bad and times were bad and they wanted a Democrat in the White House for four years to take the blame so they could come back stronger in 1996.
Some things he wrote were certainly dated, knowing now how the 1996 and 2000 elections turned out, and knowing Clinton's later scandal in the Oval Office, although Thompson practically predicted that...
At the end is a late addition to the book, Thompson's vicious, nasty obituary of Richard Nixon, who died after he finished the book.
Overall it's entertaining, almost like being in the campaign, but not nearly as good as his 60's and 70's work, including his campaign classic "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972".
The last page of the book is a fake newspaper clipping "Dr. Hunter Thompson announced to a cheering crowd of editors, brokers and elite political professionals in Chicago today that 'politics is not better than sex'".
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