As Duke says in the narrative, “It is worth noting, historically, that downers came in with Nixon.” But perhaps that is simple it: the ruination of the once optimistic drug culture. With a stash of drugs that include marijuana, mescaline, all kinds of pills, cocaine, opiates, LSD, ether, and adrenochrome, none of which seem to offer a good-time, you have to wonder what the point of it all is. It is hard to describe Duke’s experience of drugs as any time resulting in a ‘high’, rather he slips from anxiety-laden fantasy to painful semi-sobriety, loitering somewhere in between for the most part. In Fear and Loathing, the euphoric 1960s have passed and drug culture is becoming something much darker: there are tales of violence, of men pulling out their own eyeballs during states of intoxication. Stoned, delirious, and unpredictable throughout, Duke is sent out to report on the Mint 400 (a motorcycle race across the desert) but finds himself falling into an episodic series of surreal adventures seemingly without purpose. Gonzo (stand in for Oscar Acosta), as they make a couple of trips to Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. A mix of reality and fantasy, the story follows Raoul Duke (stand in for Thompson) and his Samoan lawyer, Dr. Thompson and the novel that launched Gonzo journalism into the public consciousness. Published in 1972, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, is the best known work of Hunter S.
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