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In addition to being a testament to the undeniably beatifying properties of American excess--literary, political, chemical, you name it--Hunter Thompson is the high priest of the ad hominem attack. Anyone unlucky enough to get in the way of his satirical sledgehammer will end up with soup for brains. Still, even Thompson needs a good villain to get properly lathered up; that's why he peaked simultaneously with America's 37th president, Richard Milhous Nixon. Tricky Dick was Thompson's dark-jowled, pale-calved Muse, and with his departure Thompson seemed to lose his place a bit. Swatting flies with a baseball bat.
You need look no further for this writer's best: this collection of pieces, first published in 1979, spans all of Thompson's primo era, including short pieces and selections from longer works. The Great Shark Hunt sports a few articles filed by a pre-Gonzo Hunter S. Thompson, which show flickers of passion but no real fire; the first experiments with the author's drug-fueled brand of journalism at the Kentucky Derby; and finally the gigs that made him an American institution, in Las Vegas and on the 1972 campaign trail.
Thompson's style is so unique that a reader is tempted to think that he leapt, fully formed, into Gonzohood. However, along with the crazy, careening prose itself, one of the auxiliary pleasures of The Great Shark Hunt is the map that it gives of Thompson's ascent (or descent, if you prefer) from the workaday hyperbole of sports writing to the hell-blast vigor of his later work. The drugs are, by and large, a distraction--lifestyle points that get in the way of the genuinely perceptive journalism that Thompson created. (But they are there, always, and in quantity.) If you're looking for insight into the underbelly of America, Hunter S. Thompson is your best and only guide, and The Great Shark Hunt is an excellent place to begin the grim safari. --Michael Gerber
Book Description
Originally published in 1979, the first volume of the bestselling "Gonzo Papers" is now back in print. The Great Shark Hunt is Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's largest and, arguably, most important work, covering Nixon to napalm, Las Vegas to Watergate, Carter to cocaine. These essays offer brilliant commentary and outrageous humor, in signature Thompson style.
Ranging in date from the National Observer days to the era of Rolling Stone, The Great Shark Hunt offers myriad, highly charged entries, including the first Hunter S. Thompson piece to be dubbed "gonzo" -- "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," which appeared in Scanlan's Monthly in 1970. From this essay a new journalistic movement sprang which would change the shape of American letters. Thompson's razor-sharp insight and crystal clarity capture the crazy, hypocritical, degenerate, and redeeming aspects of the explosive and colorful '60s and '70s.
Customer Reviews:
The Essential Hunter Thompson.......2007-01-04
Much like Sony's "The Essential" series, which collected the greatest songs from the greatest musicians of the past century, "The Great Shark Hunt" is an anthology of the greatest of the Good Doctor's work from his peak period of the 60's and 70's.
Perhaps no other American writer captured the essence of that tumultous era better than Hunter S. Thompson. He was simultaneously of his time and above his time, and invented a new kind of journalism, dubbed "Gonzo." All objectivity was thrown out the window as the author thrust himself into the action of the stories he was reporting. Whether it was dropping acid at a police convention in Las Vegas, sabotaging the presidential bid of Ed Muskie, or running for sheriff of Aspen, Thompson's antics are legendary, and "The Great Shark Hunt" is a great way to get acquainted with the man and the writing for which he is best remembered.
Hilarious and very perceptive.......2006-12-27
It is a pretty rare experience for me to find an author who can make me feel as though I actually understand the culture the author is describing. Many authors are perfectly capable of explaining a culture or a period in time, but I don't find many who do it simply by describing their experiences, but Hunter S. Thompson does so in this book.
This book covers a lot of American culture in the 20th century. Now, I am not a US citizen, nor have I read much US history, but I found Thompson's stories very perceptive and entertaining. Even his coverage of something that sounds as dull as Richard Nixon's presidential campaign and fall are just brilliant. This is one of those few books that has made me laugh out loud.
What I fundamentally love about this book is that it really makes me feel like I'm standing beside the author, in his stories as he tells them. Thompson has a wicked sense of mischief, which goes very well with his "Gonzo" style of journalism. I think that "Gonzo" journalism helps his stories become so vivid because Thompson makes sure that he is not separated from what's going on. In fact, Thompson is often central to the story and yet that doesn't result in the kind of ego-centric story telling one might expect.
If you have any interest in US culture, from 1960 onward, and a love for very perceptive, though often drug addled lunatics as protagonists, then I imagine that you will love this book.
Should be required reading for all classes of journalism.......2006-11-21
The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers vol. 1 is a hysterical and brilliant piece of his mordant wit, this great heir to Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and H. L. Mencken, the Great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
The book covers the exciting and gut laugh-filled evolution of Gonzo from about 1963 to 1976; including his infamous article from 1970 in which Gonzo arose from his open shell and, soaring aloft, emitted the primal and insane roar; The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.
This is a very facinating era of Thompson's life and career as he slowly makes a beast of himself and his writing, probably the best social commentary since Voltaire.
Glorious Madness.......2006-10-05
This is great stuff from a fearless freak. Thompson never fails to both entertain me as a reader and educate me as a writer. He was unhinged and did not hold back. This is a great collection of dazed vignettes, crazed events, and hazed intents. The guy was out there, but it never drowned his talent. A must-read for those who want a deeper sense of the madness of our times, or who simply want a good read.
Thompson's Best. Period........2006-05-23
I've read all of Thompson's books, and nothing approaches Shark Hunt for sheer ferocity of intelligence, perception, and the gleefully lunatic Gonzo outlook. He put himself fearlessly and hilariously in the middle of his stories and thus changed both modern journalism and history itself as he rocked through some of the wildest times this country will ever see.
These are HST's finest magazine pieces from the 60s and 70s, chosen and edited by the author. His takes on Nixon and Ali and Vietnam are startlingly prescient, so dead-on in the hindsight of three decades that one begins to wonder why Thompson isn't ranked with Mailer and Capote and Vidal as one of modern America's most trenchant essayists.
He's certainly funnier than all of them put together, with a uniquely skewed stance full of outrage and insanity. Sure, F&L In Vegas gets all the attention, but that book is mainly full-on Gonzo, and, while truly classic, hardly touches this collection for depth of insight and understanding of one of
the most vital and transformative periods in American history.
The essay on Haight-Ashbury alone is worth the price of this tome; he lived there before the lunacy started and stayed through to its peak, and presents the tale as only one
who tripped through the flaked-out soul of that time could.
There are sentences in that piece that are pure poetry, some of the finest dissection the 60s ever saw...and that's just the tip of this glorious literary iceberg that melts happily from the hand into the mind.
Thompson had a style that is oft-imitated but never approached, and here we see him crafting that style as the years go by, emerging as one of the most unique essayists this country has ever produced. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that HST is the most hilariously readable of modern American non-fiction writers...and this is
his magnum opus.
If you like to laugh while you think about what really matters, this is your baby.
Not to be missed.
Average customer rating:
- A black man shot down with the biggest racist in Vietnam, story follows
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By Duty Bound: Survival and Redemption in Vietnam
Jr. (CA. Ret.), Brig. Gen. Ezell Ware , and
Joel Engel
Manufacturer: NAL Trade
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By Duty Bound : Survival and Redemption in a Time of War
ASIN: 0451215982 |
Book Description
Raised in Mississippi, Ezell Ware was determined to excel. Having grown up without running water, electricity, or sufficient food, he wasn't daunted by the hardships of military life. Eventually he earned a chance to join the Army's helicopter pilot program, realizing his dream of flying. It was a role that would change his life, and the life of an unlikely brother in valor at the height of the Vietnam War.
Downed by enemy fire, Ware and his badly injured captain endured a three-week trek through hell. But when his captain revealed his membership in the Ku Klux Klan, the situation took a turn that surprised them both-and sent Ezell on the road to becoming a general. A unique memoir of heroism and humanity, By Duty Bound captures a crucial chapter in American history-through the eyes of one of its most remarkable witnesses.
Customer Reviews:
A black man shot down with the biggest racist in Vietnam, story follows.......2007-09-24
Oh man! i just kind of happened on this book and real glad I bought it. He is a black officer, shot down in the jungles of Vietnam, with him is only one other person. That person HATES blacks. So they have to try to work together. Oh yeah, the racist is injured and can't walk by himself. Very good read.
Book Description
The inspiring, true story of a top soldier who survived Jim Crow only to land in a struggle for survival beside his racist white captain after they were downed in Vietnam
Raised in the segregated South, Ezell Ware was determined to excel beyond the lines drawn by white power brokers. He became the top recruit in his Marine training class; having grown up without running water, electricity, or sufficient food, he wasnÂ't daunted by military life. He eventually earned a chance to join the ArmyÂ's helicopter pilot program, realizing his dream of flying. It was a role that would change his life, and the life of an unlikely partner in valor at the height of the Vietnam War.
Downed by enemy fire while on a mission over thick jungles, Ware and his badly injured captain endured a three-week descent into hell, with one canteen and little defense against countless deadly forces. But when his captain revealed his membership in the Ku Klux Klan, their situation took a turn that surprised them both—and put Ezell on the road to becoming a general.
A unique memoir of heroism and humanity, By Duty Bound captures a crucial chapter in American history through the eyes of one of its most remarkable witnesses.
Customer Reviews:
Deeply Compelling Story - History of Jim Crow South as Intriguing as Viet Nam Story.......2007-08-31
I received this book from the author as a gift, having met him when he was speaking to an organization of families of service members who lost loved-ones in Afghanistan or Iraq.
The author is extraordinarily charismatic and inspiring and this book provides wonderful insight into the life-experiences that made him the man he is today. While I had learned about Jim Crow laws in high school history, this book provided deeper insight into the harsh adversity, resignation and palpable fear that so many black Americans faced. The author paints vivid pictures both of his upbringing and his service in Viet Nam.
In response to the 2-star rating (Boddy): I found myself wanting to read the next installment of this story when I finshed, but that in no way detracted from this book - rather it illustrates its strength. America is blessed to have leaders like General Ware!
House from Wisconsin.......2007-08-11
I gave this book the highest rating because I liked it,I liked it alot. I have often read books using this style, main event and reflections on youth. Ware and Engel did a terrific job presenting each story. I have often read books with this format but I didn't reflect on my own youth. Although quite different I began thinking about the ways I used to earn money as a child. Race for me was Native Americans and Whites. When I was in Vietnam in 1968-1970 (two tours) I understood the bond that war brings together and dissmisses beliefs and values for a stronger emotion, survival. I would read another book by this team if one would come out and recomend it to my friends.
By Duty Bound, survival and Redemption in a Time of War by Ware and Engel.......2005-11-30
What a wonderful, fast moving, history bound, uplifting and riveting book this is! It isn't a blood and guts war story, nor is it a gun-ho military brainwashing trip. It is a rich, absolutely rich story about being black in America during the 40s, 50s, 60s- today, having dignity and honor, with a burning desire to achieve a goal and a determined spirit to live life with honesty and compassion. It is extremely humane and positive in a world that often seems rather bleak and discouraging. Compelling is the word that comes to mind. Two exciting stories of this man's life, told in alternating chapters, had me turning pages as I discover the strength, compassion, and dignity of the human spirit. One reviewer stated that Ware's story lost speed after his rescue. I rather think that the reader missed the many points that were made, perhaps a bit subtle for him/her to understand. Hats off to Ware for telling his stories, and bravo to both he and Engel for putting his experiences into words. The men in my life (ages 16-70) are all receiving this book as a Christmas gift this year. I know they'll appreciate it!
By Duty Bound.......2005-10-28
By Duty Bound is an excellent book. The style of writing was so compelling that from chapter to chapter I couldn't wait to find out what would happen in the next chapter, going from his life in Mississippi as a young man, to his and Burdetts ordeal in the jungle of Viet Nam. The story was so well written that you find yourself feeling the emotions of the characters. Ezell was so honest in revealing his achievements as well as his disappointments in his life that you can't help but gain a respect for him as man. I have read the book three times, and each time I have found it even more inspiring. I highly recommend this book no matter where you are in your life. It will inspire you to be the the best you can be, and to never give up.
Total Commitment and Success!.......2005-08-10
Ezell Ware's book is difficult to put down once the reader begins this eye-opening, heart-tugging journey. You find yourself in the middle of two battlefields-one in Vietnam and one in the USA. The author does a remarkable job in moving the reader back and forth over the suspension bridge between those wars-- through a literal jungle in Vietnam and an unbelievable jungle of another kind right here in the United States of America-- all in one volume. After enduring a lifetime of hostility, having your helicopter shot down in enemy territory is immediately life threatening and horrendous; but facing the realization you have been flying with the enemy as well is mind-boggling. Each war zone involved human spirit, endurance, and heroic action. The fighting spirit of an American with a full measure of determination, patriotism, and true grit is what you get when you pick up this work. I salute American Ezell Ware for sharing his remarkable life and battlegrounds.
Book Description
This is a ground-breaking exploration of the roots of the current conflict between the US and the Muslim world.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing book, due to the poverty of the author's anarchist approach.......2007-05-01
Mark LeVine, an American Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Irvine, has written a most misleading book on modern capitalism (`globalisation'), reflecting the global peace and justice movement's anarchism.
He occasionally glimpses the reality of empire. He cites the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, which contradicted Bush by saying, "they do not hate our freedom, they hate our policies." He sees that chaos is not an accidental by-product of occupying foreign countries but assists the occupiers' strategic goals - profits, oil and repression - and he recognises that occupations are brutal, corrupt and incompetent.
He cites a World Bank study that concluded, "faster growth among the poor may indeed be obtained at the expense of slower growth among the rich", that there is `no evidence ... of mutually beneficial policies' and "At least in the short run, globalization appears to increase poverty and inequality." He also notes a United Nations Development Programme Report that summed up, "Trade openness (liberalisation) increased poverty and inequality ... Those countries liberalising most rapidly fared worst."
Yet after all this evidence, LeVine claims that culture not economics drives capitalism. So he claims, "Only building bridges between cultures can provide the chance to overcome both occupation and the violence it breeds." This bridge-building, he writes, gives the leading role to intellectuals - a little self-serving, one might think. He goes on, "if we can ... compose a truly world music - we can break down (`deconstruct', as some philosophers might say) the `iron cage' of neoliberalism". This is utopian drivel.
The `global peace and justice movement' pretends that working classes' struggles to seize state power from capitalist classes are old-fashioned, chauvinist and unnecessary. Yet he had cited World Bank President James Wolfensohn's praise of Cuba in 2001: "Cuba has done a great job on education and health." Cuba has continued to progress because its policies, based on class and nation, are the opposite of the Bank's policies and also of the movement's policies.
What success has the movement ever had that justifies rejecting the successful Cuban method of class struggle and revolution? By contrast, as LeVine admits, quoting voices like Susan George - "We haven't actually won anything" and Naomi Klein - "We have in no way reversed the flow towards privatization, let alone stopped it", the movement has never succeeded anywhere.
The main conflict in the world is not Islam against the West, but neither is it neoliberalism against the `global peace and justice movement'; it is class against class, within each nation, and each nation must solve its own problems.
The `global peace and justice movement' is a diversion, a waste of time and energy. Its members need to get jobs, if they haven't already, and join their trade union. Workers, including white-collar workers, are the majority in every country, and only the working class can defeat capitalism.
They don't? .......2006-12-14
I guess 9/11 was their way of saying "Hi, How are you?"
He suggests that fundamental Christians are the same as fundamental muslims in that they both believe in their religion, their god and all others are going to hell.
Well, unless I'm not paying attention, I haven't really noticed devout christians strapping bombs onto their children and sending them onto a crowded bus. Christian schools also don't teach their children growing up that killing jews and muslims will send them to heaven.
He also suggests that America call for a truce with the Muslim countries. This could be an idea, however, we have truces with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt to name a few and that doesn't seem to stop any of these terrorists. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Making peace with them hasn't stopped Bin Laden from waging war.
This book is a joke. The only reason I gave it 1 star is because they wouldn't let me give it 0.
A great book for those who wish to deconstruct their ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/CNN brainwashed minds........2006-11-13
If you're ready to be challenged regarding Middle East generalizations and so-called virtues of globalism, this book is mandatory reading.
Some of them do.......2006-01-10
Mark LeVine, who is a professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, Culture and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Irvine wants to champion what he calls "cultural jamming" as a means to bridge the cultural abyss between the Middle East and the West.
I think this idea has a certain appeal since cultural jamming is the practice of satirizing the power structure. It can be a force for understanding between the Middle East and the West, but primarily it is a force against established power, whether eastern or western. It is a natural product of the young, who do not yet have much power, but who will indeed have power in the future. So I am in sympathy with LeVine's enthusiasm; however as young people become older and take on the responsibilities of their societies and weld the power, will they not become the satirized?
One of the points Levine makes early in this ambitious book is that the narrow-minded, fundamentalist culture of e.g., Kansas, is similar to the narrow-minded, fundamentalist culture of the jihadis. In a broad sense the fundamentalist Christians of America and the fundamentalist Muslims of the Middle East are just opposite sides of the same intolerant, ignorant coin. They both believe that they have the one real God on their side, and regard people who believe differently as going to straight to hell.
Consequently, LeVine's conclusion that "they" don't hate "us" because there really is no monolithic "they" or "us" is technically correct. Generalizations that pigeonhole people are always wrong except as handy ways to talk. The so-called "culture" of the West with its McFoods, its NASCAR races, its mindless TV, its "football," its Hollywood movies and its gross commercialization is really just the commercial culture of America. The real culture of America is much more complex and includes a plethora of subcultures from blue blooded New Englanders living on inherited wealth to Spanish-speaking illegal aliens who work in our fields and kitchens. It includes Harvard graduates and burger-flippers; blue states and red; people who believe in democracy and the separation of church and state, and evangelicals who are waiting anxiously for the Rapture. It includes the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Al Capone, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, atheists and true believers, Nobel Prize winners and Paris Hilton. It includes millions of Muslims as well as Christians of every stripe, Buddhists and Hindus, Midwesterners, Southerners, Californians and people who have never left North Dakota.
American culture, as crass as it often is, is not the villain. The use of military power exclusively for perceived American interests, and the economic exploitation of less developed nations is what is causing a lot of pain in the world today, and is what justifiably could cause others to hate us. Invading Iraq and causing the death of tens of thousands of Iraqis and the suffering of millions more, is what fosters hatred. Artificially supporting our rich and massive agribusinesses so that Third World farmers can't compete also engenders hatred.
But a lot of the hatred is a legacy of colonialism. Only time will heal those wounds.
Still, there are cultural differences in the aggregate that must be understood and appreciated before the twain of the Middle East and the West can harmoniously meet. Education in the West and particularly in the US is based not on the Qu'ran, as it is in Muslim countries (nor on the Bible), but upon secular histories and the authority not of religious leaders who interpret holy books, but on scientific authority. There is separation of church and state in the West while in Muslim countries typically it is believed that political power comes properly from God and not from the people. While in the West we may be persuaded to think of the Middle East as backward and even evil, that is not part of the classroom instruction. However, a denigration of Western ideas and institutions is part and parcel of Islamic education where the focus is tightly on the teaching of the Qu'ran. We only have that sort of narrow focus in our more conservative religious schools.
These are real cultural differences. When everyone in Saudi Arabia has as much chance to secure a decent living as a Saudi prince, when Iranians can listen without fear to Western music, when Palestinians are represented by politicians that are really working for their benefit instead of playing out revenge scenarios, when the oil profits benefit the people as a whole and not just the ruling classes (or special interests in the West)--in short when everybody has a greater stake in the societies, there will be a lot less hatred, and cultural differences will be seen in a more benign light.
One final thing: LeVine wants the US to declare a truce with Muslim countries. (See page 330 and following.) But even though I agree that the US's "war on terror" is at best a misnomer and at worse a crusade, I don't think declaring a truce makes any sense at all. We are not at war with Islam or Muslims or Muslim countries. To declare a truce would falsely say that we were. Also a declaration that we have sinned in the past (colonialism, etc.) and now apologize is of limited value. We can apologize for the slaughter of Native Americans, for enslaving Africans, even for killing of the Neanderthal if we like. And I suppose Muslims could apologize for forcing innumerable peoples to embrace Islam or else. I don't like any of that sort of thing because I, in particular, enslaved nobody and killed nary a Native American. I cannot apologize for those who did.
What is needed is a declaration of intent to not exploit others or otherwise do nasty things to them. That's what LeVine ought to be calling for.
A must read for supporters and opponents alike.......2005-09-06
Globalization is a very popular topic these days and innumerable publications have appeared which either celebrate it as nothing short of a revolution which produces wealth and brings people closer together or, at the other end of the spectrum, demonize it as a destructive monster which burns everything in its path. Levine takes on this controversial topic in a book which consists of three parts. The first is mainly devoted to setting up the stage for the rest of book and to placing it into the current often ideological discourse about globalization.
In the second part the author analyzes the deep historical roots of globalization, especially its relations to what he calls the modernity matrix (modernity, imperialism/colonialism, capitalism and nationalism), which puts the phenomenon in perspective within the broader historical theater. LeVine chooses a holistic approach which does not reduce globalization to a mere economic phenomenon, but, rather, illuminates its cultural and political as well as its economic components. It shows, based on official data by organizations like the IMF and the World Bank, that even the self-proclaimed successes of globalizations actually benefit both a minority of countries and minorities within those countries themselves.
The author's ability to connect the dots between long time historical processes and their daily life micro-manifestations, especially in Middle Eastern and North African countries confers the book a 'humanity' which does usually not characterize academic analyses. A humanity which is also at the core of LeVine's courageous approach to the topic and its many implications.
The third and last part of the book is devoted to the global peace and justice movement and culminates in a manifesto of its goals and strategies (according to the author) for a successful future. The author's point of view and perspective is never concealed throughout the book and, even though the author certainly takes a side, its historical analysis remains sober and matter-of-factual.
The book is written in a fluid and pleasant style and is a must read for both supporters and opponents of globalization alike.
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