Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
by Hunter S. Thompson

Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
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Book Summary Information

Author: Hunter S. Thompson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-11-01
ISBN: 0684873249
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780684873244
  • Condition: NEW
  • Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Book Reviews of Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

Book Review: Exactly what I expected from a HST Autobiography
Summary: 4 Stars

Although a little lost in his own ranting... I found this totally interesting from a historical point of view, not necessarily the things HST wrote but the things that were compiled into his book. Letters from other people and newspaper articles, the mish mash nature to it definitely suits what I would have thought a HST 'autobiography' to be. There are some hilarious stories in there that I hadnt heard before. I skipped over some parts but over all I found it totally engaging, especially all the stuff written in the 2000s about the war on terror and george w bush. One of the greatest american humourists that ever lived. Also a man with such depth of integrity and heart that he could never turn away from a judicial outrage. I only wish that he could have waited and seen what the US has become capable of.

Summary of Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

Brilliant, provocative, outrageous, and brazen, Hunter S. Thompson's infamous rule breaking -- in his journalism, in his life, and of the law -- changed the shape of American letters and the face of American icons. Kingdom of Fear traces the course of Thompson's life as a rebel -- from a smart-mouthed Kentucky kid flouting all authority to a convention-defying journalist who came to personify a wild fusion of fact, fiction, and mind-altering substances.

Call it the evolution of an outlaw. Here are the formative experiences that comprise Thompson's legendary trajectory alongside the weird and the ugly. Whether detailing his exploits as a foreign correspondent in Rio, his job as night manager of the notorious O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, his epic run for sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket, or the sensational legal maneuvering that led to his full acquittal in the famous 99 Days trial, Thompson is at the peak of his narrative powers in Kingdom of Fear. And this boisterous, blistering ride illuminates as never before the professional and ideological risk taking of a literary genius and transgressive icon.


Kingdom of Fear is billed as a memoir, but in essence, all of Hunter S. Thompson's books could fit into this category since his life and work have always been tightly bound together by a mythology largely of his own making. (After all, this is the man who, before earning a single dollar as a writer, began meticulously saving a copy of every letter he ever sent.) Still, this is certainly an unconventional memoir, but then what would you expect from the father of gonzo journalism? In these pages Thompson manages to dig deep and reveal a few "loathsome secrets" without offering the kind of personal details he has always avoided. His childhood, for instance, is basically summed up in a sentence: "I look back on my youth with great fondness, but I would not recommend it as a working model to others." He does, however, reflect upon his considerable legacy, including his well-known, and admittedly exaggerated, use of controlled substances ("The brutal reality of politics alone would probably be intolerable without drugs"), as well as offer assessments of his own work, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ("It's as good as The Great Gatsby and better than The Sun Also Rises").

In this collection of twisted parables and outlaw adventures, Thompson writes about his early run-ins with agents of authority and the lessons learned; his stint in the Air Force and the beginning of his journalism career; his unsuccessful, though illuminating, bid for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado in 1970 as the Freak Power candidate; the casualties and unintended consequences thus far in the War on Terror; and numerous examples of present-day injustice and hypocrisy--all with his characteristic mix of brutal frankness laced with humor. He also offers his own take on state of the Union: "The prevailing quality of life in America--by any accepted methods of measuring--was inarguably freer and more politically open under Nixon than it is today in this evil year of Our Lord 2002." Thompson continues to make even the most deadly serious subject matter endlessly entertaining. --Shawn Carkonen

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