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

The next question he knows the answer to is "is this a great country, or what?". The safe answer is "Yes, and thank you for asking". Any other answer will get your name on the waiting list of accommodations at Guantianamo Bay.

Yes, as others have said.... this really is nothing new from Uncle Duke... except now he is saying these things when, maybe for the first time since Nixon was in the White House, these are dangerous thoughts to have. What makes this so good is that they are being said in the post-9/11 funtime jamboree that we call The War on Terrorism...whatever the heck that means.

As somebody who came to HST's writings late... As I wasn't born when he first started writing... I took note of him when I was in High School, if only because his thinking seemed to run parallel to George Carlin, or later... Kevin Smith in some aspects. But of course, HST's thoughts are much more fully developed and reasoned out. Which of course, while Carlin and Smith might flirt with respectability to the outside world, HST makes no attempt to suger coat his life, politics, thoughts or philosophy for outside consumption. Which means he ain't playing the BS game most in the world play. Not to say he ain't BS'ing... Just that he plays more by his own made-up rules rather than those of others.

He advertises himself and is thought by many to be a totally crazed out wack job. Which, of course, is basically what he hopes is true. Cause if he ain't crazy, then what he's seeing today in America is seriously down-right scary. Which, as scary as it seems, makes him maybe the only serious rational person left on the planet.

Which leads one to wonder if the outside world is just playing out J. G. Ballard's short story "The Insane Ones" for real.

Which, of course, makes Dr. Gonzo the Twain for our time.

Thompson rehashes old political coverage, tells of personal glory and debauchery, finds friends and family to be the greatest of all stories told, and yes, presents photocopied replicas of letters received and distributed. The addiction and craving for personal perfection with the written word run strong and deep with this man, and this detail of character will keep his work somewhat comprehensible and sane through all the incomprehensible and insanity.

"The police don't have a sense of humor anymore," Dr. Thompson wrote in "Kingdom of Fear."

This quote not only hits the nail on the head with the current social and economic problems, but with the ever increasing militarization of law enforcement and has been stated by this writers own father... in verbatim!

Thompson refuses to refrain from giving a good tongue-lashing to all the current and former leaders of the United States, though he does maintain his main theme of personal biographical accounts. He delves into criticism of current president George Bush and crony henchmen, but also saves some diatribe for "Arkansas traveling salesman" Bill Clinton.

One could argue the idea of Hunter Thompson becoming a complete nut job due to his excessive drug use and public behavior, his appearance on Late Night with Conan O' Brien sealed his fate, but he still holds a sense of fluid writing that holds humanist qualities. So he is not a fiend or addict, or even some kind of "high-power mutant," while he comes across as a little sketchy, he is mostly still cognitive.

It seems as though Thompson in his writings subconsciously needs to come to terms with his own certain demise as every thinking human does. His writing tends to have a certain banal philosophy towards death and denies himself from pushing the limits... this is why Thompson is one of the greats.