The Proud Highway, Hunter S. Thompson
The Proud Highway, Hunter S. Thompson
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The Proud Highway
Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955–1967

Author: Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley, William J. Kennedy

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 27 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/15/2014

Synopsis

Here, for the first time, is the private and most intimate correspondence of one of America's most influential and incisive journalists—Hunter S. Thompson. In letters to a who's who of luminaries, from Norman Mailer to Charles Kuralt, Tom Wolfe to Lyndon Johnson, William Styron to Joan Baez—not to mention his mother, the NRA, and a chain of newspaper editors—Thompson vividly catches the tenor of the times in 1960s America and channels it all through his own razor-sharp perspective.Passionate in their admiration, merciless in their scorn, and never anything less than fascinating, the dispatches of The Proud Highway offer an unprecedented and penetrating gaze into the evolution of the most outrageous raconteur/provocateur ever to assault a typewriter.

About Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. His books on politics and society were regarded as groundbreaking among journalists, and he was celebrated as one of the early practitioners of an outraged, irreverent form of highly subjective journalism that became known as gonzo journalism. His numerous articles for Rolling Stone and books like Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas brought him wide recognition and cultlike status.

About Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley is an acclaimed historian and award-winning author of many books, including six New York Times bestsellers. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and his two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. Other awards he has won include the Frances K. Hutchison Medal, Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies.

About Malcolm Hillgartner

Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Charlotte on March 12, 2013

Imagine having your dream job of writing, only to be fired 10 times in a row, to then squander in poverty for 10 years with your wife and child, following your dream.... only to become famous for putting yourself in the center of a true story about the Hells Angels where you were almost beaten to de......more

Goodreads review by Craig on September 23, 2007

Municipal Court Magistrate, Town Hall, West Milford, NJ November 6, 1959: "Dear Sir, Earlier today I was given a summons to appear before your court on November 9, on a charge of 'leaving the scene of an accident.' I shall have to decline this appearance, and I hope this letter will explain why. By N......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on December 29, 2008

My last exposure to Hunter S. Thompson was in high school, when I read the Rum Diary and of course Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; it's not to say I wasn't impressed, but after reading the Proud Highway I am completed..enamored..? by Thompson's writing. Nothing can be more insightful than this amazi......more

Goodreads review by Joshua on January 14, 2022

This book provides an insight into the private workings of one of the most eloquent delinquents god hawked up and spat onto our little blue marble. I would highly recommend reading for anyone with an interest in Thompson, but those that don't; STAY AWAY. Instead, hide in your homes, have boring sex......more

Goodreads review by Max on April 26, 2022

I was introduced to HST by one of my college professors when he answered a desperate email of mine with the text of the letter to Hume Logan that appears in this book. That left me with a curiosity as to just whose advice I had received. So I looked him up, became intrigued, and soon found myself or......more

Quotes

“Another insightful masterpiece from the finest southern gentleman since Colonel Harland Sanders. Read these letters but do not, under any circumstances, give this man your number.”

Johnny Depp

“Takes the air out of airmail and replaces it with pure, compressed, explosive hydrogen…You’ve never gotten any letters like these.”

P. J. O’Rourke

“Deliriously entertaining.”

Time

“Wicked humor and bracing political conviction.”

New York Times

“Proud Highway proves as meaty as most bios on Thompson—and way more fun.”

Entertainment Weekly

“Brilliantly bizarre…A celebration of the ’60s.”

USA Today

“We get overdosed with surprises…Astonishing.”

Newsweek

“Some of the finest political and social writing of our times.”

Seattle Times

“For its bile and outrageousness…this is peerless…By turns exasperating and entertaining, this is also a devastating portrait of the writer as an incorrigible outsider.”

Publishers Weekly

“Thompson enjoyed messing up wherever he could, but he never lost a grip on his desire to become a damn good writer. This is a shot in the liver for struggling writers and a searing testimony to an important moment in American journalism. Highly recommended.”

Library Journal

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