bundy23's review against another edition
DNF. Too much celebrity name dropping and the crazy over the top stuff got very tiring very quickly... I used to love Thompson but either I've aged badly or his writing has...
corylevialexander's review against another edition
5.0
His best work. Most digestible. Hard to put down. Funny, cynical, and smart.
cnidariar3x's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.5
Cant believe he didnt seem to like Blue Velvet.
nonna7's review against another edition
5.0
"Huge brains, small necks, weak muscles and fat wallets - these are the dominant physical characteristics of the '80's...the Generation of Swine."
I read this over a period of several months in between reading the library books that have been coming at me. I was close to the end tonight, so I decided to go for it and read the last few essays. The book starts with Gary Hart running for President and the election of George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988. Thompson had high hopes for Hart until he spectacularly flamed out. (I just read an article that says that Hart may have been actually set up when he allowed himself to have the picture of that very pretty blonde on his lap, but I doubt we will ever know. Along the way he talks about Biden's plagiarism and blames Pat Buchanan. I had forgotten the details of the controversy, but apparently he did some kind of plagiarism at Syracuse Law School for a paper. Syracuse never caught it. Anyway a lot of plagiarism is often forgetting to add footnotes and a reference at the end. I think if you're writing a book or long paper it could be an easy thing to forget especially if you are bleary eyed. Also this was before word processing. But I digress.... He also apparently used some of Bobby Kennedy's words in his speeches without referencing Kennedy. I guess it never occurs to anyone that a person can have that stuff in their brain for so long that you forget where it came from. Anyway apparently he apologized all over the place and that ended his presidential aspirations. (Now he's apparently going to run again. Hey, if he can defeat Trump, I'm all for it.)
Thompson seems to have invented "Gonzo Journalism" which, according to Wikipedia is " a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is a protagonist, and it draws its power from a combination of social critique and self-satire.[1] It has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.
Gonzo journalism involves an approach to accuracy that concerns the reporting of personal experiences and emotions, in contrast to traditional journalism, which favors a detached style and relies on facts or quotations that can be verified by third parties. Gonzo journalism disregards the strictly-edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more personal approach; the personality of a piece is as important as the event or actual subject of the piece. Use of sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and profanity is common.
Thompson, who was among the forefathers of the new journalism movement, said in the February 15, 1973, issue of Rolling Stone, "If I'd written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."
Hunter was never one to hide his emotion. His writing really is profane, funny and even true sometimes. It's his opinion, but it IS based on accuracy. Certainly his reading of the Reagan administration and the various administration officials are accurate as I remember them. (No, I do NOT venerate Reagan as some great leader even if he did tell Gorbachev to take down the Berlin Wall. Ultimately, Berliners did it themselves.)
Furthermore, if he had lived his head would have spun over the Trump administration. Talk about a generation of swine. They make the Reagan administration look absolutely angelic even with Oliver North and his shenanigans.
Anyway, don't read this if you like Republicans. Or Democrats. Thompson despised them all.
I read this over a period of several months in between reading the library books that have been coming at me. I was close to the end tonight, so I decided to go for it and read the last few essays. The book starts with Gary Hart running for President and the election of George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988. Thompson had high hopes for Hart until he spectacularly flamed out. (I just read an article that says that Hart may have been actually set up when he allowed himself to have the picture of that very pretty blonde on his lap, but I doubt we will ever know. Along the way he talks about Biden's plagiarism and blames Pat Buchanan. I had forgotten the details of the controversy, but apparently he did some kind of plagiarism at Syracuse Law School for a paper. Syracuse never caught it. Anyway a lot of plagiarism is often forgetting to add footnotes and a reference at the end. I think if you're writing a book or long paper it could be an easy thing to forget especially if you are bleary eyed. Also this was before word processing. But I digress.... He also apparently used some of Bobby Kennedy's words in his speeches without referencing Kennedy. I guess it never occurs to anyone that a person can have that stuff in their brain for so long that you forget where it came from. Anyway apparently he apologized all over the place and that ended his presidential aspirations. (Now he's apparently going to run again. Hey, if he can defeat Trump, I'm all for it.)
Thompson seems to have invented "Gonzo Journalism" which, according to Wikipedia is " a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is a protagonist, and it draws its power from a combination of social critique and self-satire.[1] It has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.
Gonzo journalism involves an approach to accuracy that concerns the reporting of personal experiences and emotions, in contrast to traditional journalism, which favors a detached style and relies on facts or quotations that can be verified by third parties. Gonzo journalism disregards the strictly-edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more personal approach; the personality of a piece is as important as the event or actual subject of the piece. Use of sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and profanity is common.
Thompson, who was among the forefathers of the new journalism movement, said in the February 15, 1973, issue of Rolling Stone, "If I'd written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."
Hunter was never one to hide his emotion. His writing really is profane, funny and even true sometimes. It's his opinion, but it IS based on accuracy. Certainly his reading of the Reagan administration and the various administration officials are accurate as I remember them. (No, I do NOT venerate Reagan as some great leader even if he did tell Gorbachev to take down the Berlin Wall. Ultimately, Berliners did it themselves.)
Furthermore, if he had lived his head would have spun over the Trump administration. Talk about a generation of swine. They make the Reagan administration look absolutely angelic even with Oliver North and his shenanigans.
Anyway, don't read this if you like Republicans. Or Democrats. Thompson despised them all.
count_zero's review
4.0
In "A Generation of Swine" Hunter S. Thompson turns his sharp and angry wit upon the 1980s, particularly the Regan administration,, through the rise of "Greed is Good" economics and the Iran-Contra scandal, up until the Iran-Iraq War.
It is, beyond a doubt, an excellent book. It's not as sharp as volume 1 of the Gonzo papers, but Volume 1 had some of his most famous stuff (that wasn't written explicitly for other books) in there - his article about racial tensions in California and his meeting with Oscar Acosta, covering the Kentucky Derby with Ralph Steadman, etc.
Nonetheless, this is excellent work from Hunter, and I whole heartedly recommend it.
It is, beyond a doubt, an excellent book. It's not as sharp as volume 1 of the Gonzo papers, but Volume 1 had some of his most famous stuff (that wasn't written explicitly for other books) in there - his article about racial tensions in California and his meeting with Oscar Acosta, covering the Kentucky Derby with Ralph Steadman, etc.
Nonetheless, this is excellent work from Hunter, and I whole heartedly recommend it.
schmidtmark56's review against another edition
2.0
sometimes entertaining, but mostly comprised of extremely dated and inaccurate speculations about politics and sports. Perhaps entertaining for someone who lived through the time, but mostly uninteresting for those who didn't. Poor hunter couldn't write anything timeless if his life depended on it. He was excellent at preserving a moment for those who lived in it, but I doubt anyone else will ultimately care (i.e. future generations).
wrongwayhome's review against another edition
4.0
Gonzo meistara žurnālistisko sleju apkopojums no 20.gs astoņdesmito gadu vidus, kas izskatās ar interesantiem un trakiem notikumiem pārpilns laiks. Tiesa, dzīvot ASV tajā laikā diez vai gribētos. Republikāņu prezidents un viņa komanda sākumā šķiet vismaz tikpat crooked kā mūsdienu Donalds T, bet drīzāk pat vairāk. Varbūt DT ir nepārspējams savā lielummānijā un intelektuālajās dotībās, taču nelietības Reigana komandai nebija tik zemas klases un pieticīgas, arī personīgie dēmōni dažiem bija diezgan oj oj oi. Lasot bieži uzdevu sev jautājumu: ko Tompsons šodien rakstītu par Trampu un viņa bandu, ja pirms 15 gadiem nebūtu ielaidis sev galvā lodi. Manuprāt, neko dižu, jo Tramps gan skaļi muld, lemj neprātīgus lēmumus, bet, salīdzinot ar astoņdesmito gadu vājprātu, tas viss ir bērna šļupsti. Ko gan par kompleksu māktu 70 gadīgu bēbi lai saka viens no mūsdienu intelektuāli un psiholoģiski neaizspriedumainākajiem cilvēkiem, kas nebaidījās atbrīvot sevī zvēru, lai kļūtu brīvs cilvēks.
booksnguitars's review against another edition
3.0
For all the attention given to his outrageous behavior, HST sure was perceptive about politics. This book focuses on his mid-80's output, and for my money, a lot of this still holds true.
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