The style and the political animus always seem to drive each other. The letters-to girlfriends, to bill collectors, to placers of "Help Wanted" ads, to editors and publishers-are usually spiced with political commentary. Thompson apparently never threw a letter away, so the reader has the treat of experiencing the full evolution of his pyrotechnic writing style, rant by rant. Thompson begins with a high school essay and runs up through the publication of Thompson's breakout book, Hell's Angels. This first volume of the correspondence of Hunter S. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. How Thompson changed the face of contemporary nonfiction - and of America itself - is the mesmerizing story of The Proud Highway. With the publication of these extraordinary letters, written from the time of his high school graduation in 1955 through the triumph of his first book, Hell's Angels, in 1966, critics and fans can finally trace the development and maturation of a singular talent, one of our era's most important voices. Thompson they've imagined but never known. In The Proud Highway, readers will find a Hunter S. Before there was Gonzo, there was just plain Hunter - a precocious, earnest, and occasionally troublesome honor student in Louisville, Kentucky.īefore there was Doctor Thompson, there was Airman Thompson - the military's answer to Grantland Rice, protecting America by covering sports for his Florida base's newspaper.īefore there was Fear and Loathing,there was Dow Jones - that is, Thompson's early reportage for that company's National Observer, which raised the standard for hip and provocative foreign coverage.īefore there was Rolling Stone, there were job applications everywhere - in hopes of being hired by a paper, pretty much any paper, an obsession for the starving writer with expensive tastes in alcohol, nicotine, and room service.
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