Books
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) (edit title/settings)

A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

by Hunter S. Thompson (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is a well known book by self-dubbed 'gonzo journalist', Hunter S. Thompson. This drug laden tale is a common part of many high school curriculum and was made into a motion picture starring Johnny Depp and Benecio del Torro in 1998.

Summary edit see section history

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

Characters/People edit see section history

Show all 12 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “Old elephants limp off to the hills to die; old Americans go out to the highway and drive themselves to death with huge cars.”
  • “But what was the story? No one had bothered to say. So we would have to drum it up on our own. Free enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Alger gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. Do it now: pure Gonzo journalism.”
  • “Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.”
  • “You better take care of me Lord, if you don't you're gonna have me on your hands.”
  • “But after a while you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle this sort of thing.”
  • “No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs. Reality itself is too twisted.”
  • “We can't stop here. This is bat country.”
  • “We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers ... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.”
  • “One of the things you learn, after years of dealing with drug people, is that everything is serious. You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug-especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eyes.”
  • “The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Show all 17 settings

First Sentence edit see section history

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.

Table of Contents edit see section history

PART ONE
2: The Seizure of $300 from a Pig Woman in Beverly Hills
3: Strange Medicine on the Desert...
a Crisis of Confidence
4: Hideous Music and the Sound of Many Shotguns...
Rude Vibes on a Saturday Evening in Vegas
5: Covering the Story...
A Glimpse of the Press in Action
...Ugliness & Failure
6: A Night on the Town...
Confrontation at the Desert Inn...
Drug Frenzy at the Circus-Circus
7: Paranoid Terror...
and the Awful Specter of Sodomy...
A Flashing of Knives and Green Water
8: "Genius 'Round the World Stands Hand in Hand, and One Shock of Recognition Runs the Whole Circle 'Round"
-Art Linkletter
9: No Sympathy for the Devil
...Newsmen Tortured?...
Flight into Madness
10: Western Union intervenes: A Warning from Mr. Heem...
New Assignment from the Sports Desk and a Savage Invitation from the Police
11: Aaawww, Mama, Can This Really Be the End?...
Down and Out in Vegas, with Amphetamine Psychosis Again?
12: Hellish Speed...
Grappling with the California Highway Patrol...
Mano a Mano on Highway 61
PART TWO
2: Another Day, Another Convertible...
& Another Hotel Full of Cops
3: Savage Lucy...
'Teeth Like Baseballs, Eyes Like Jellied Fire'
4: No Refuge for Degenerates...
Reflections on a Murderous Junkie
5: A Terrible Experience with Extremely Dangerous Drugs
6: Getting Down to Business...
Opening Day at the Drug Convention
7: If You Don't Know, Come to Learn...
If You Know, Come to Teach
8: Back Door Beauty...
& Finally a Bit of Serious Drag Racing on the Strip
9: Breakdown on Paradise Blvd.
10: Heavy Duty at the Airport...
Ugly Peruvian Flashback...
'No! It's Too Late! Don't Try It!'
11: Fraud? Larceny? Rape?...
A Brutal Connection with the Alice from Linen Service
12: Return to the Circus-Circus...
Looking for the Ape...
to Hell with the American Dream
13: End of the Road...
Death of the Whale...
Soaking Sweats in the Airports
14: Farewell to Vegas...
'God's Mercy on You Swine!'

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 358 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 79 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This book is in The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Hunter S. Thompson (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1971
ISBN: 0-679-78589-2
Page Count: 204

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PN4874.T444
  • Dewey: 070.92

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Fear and Loathing
  • Fear and Loathing in America
  • The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
  • On the Road
  • Catch-22
  • A Clockwork Orange

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Fear and Loathing in America
  • Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson
  • Ancient Gonzo Wisdom
  • The Gonzo Way
  • When The Going Gets Weird : The Twisted Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson : A Very Unauthorized Biography

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • Fear and Trembling

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Hauling Checks: a novel

We’re hiding the errata, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.