Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 ( German title: " Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail ") is a collection of articles that describe the U.S. presidential election in 1972, written by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The articles were published as a book during the year 1972 in Rolling Stone magazine and in the spring of 1973.

Content

The book focuses almost exclusively on the primaries of the Democratic Party and the collapse of the party, when it was split between the various candidates. The focus of the management of the George McGovern campaign is during the Miami meeting, which tried to ensure against the resistance of the Humphrey campaign and other candidates the Democratic nomination.

Thompson began his coverage of the election campaign in December 1971, when the race for the primaries began in a rented apartment in Washington. Over the next twelve months, he has, in extensive detail, about every aspect of the campaign, from the smallest gathering to the harshest meetings, reports. Due to the free-wheeling nature of the election campaign was one of the first fax machines, procured at great expense, from the Magazine for Thompson. Thompson used the new technique to enhance the writing process to the end of the periods. Just hours before the magazine went to press, he sent indiscriminately notes. Colleagues and editors had to put together the finished product on the phone with Thompson.

Interpretation and reception

As in his previous novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ( German Title: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ) worked Thompson in Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail with a prose style, the vulgarity and the exaggeration of events marked. The British writer AL Kennedy described the reports as " Insanity, obscenity, profanity, illegality and reptilian paranoia " ( " madness, obscenity, profanity, illegality and reptilian paranoia "). The book publication as part of what the 10 most controversial books of all time. For William McKeen, the reports ( " a classic of American political journalism" ) were "a classic of American political journalism".