Hey Rube
Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
For decades, Hunter S. Thompson galvanized American journalism with his acerbic wit, radical ideas, and gonzo tactics. He continued his reign as ‘the Unabomber of contemporary letters’ (Time) with Hey Rube. Fear, greed, and action abound in this hilarious, thought-provoking compilation as Thompson doles out searing indictments and uproarious rants while providing brilliant commentary on politics, sex, and sports – at times all in the same column.
Filled with critics’ favorites, as well as never-before-published columns, Hey Rube follows Thompson through the beginning of the new century. Hey Rube gives us a look at the gonzo journalist in his most organic form – unbridled, astute, and irreverent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This collection of rants and reflections, taken from the king of gonzo journalism's new sports column at ESPN.com, displays an energy and humor lacking in some of his more recent collections and should please both his old and new fans enormously. Thompson has admitted being as much a sports fanatic as a political junkie, and these columns offer many hard-hitting but indisputable sportswriter insights, such as how a Sports Illustrated cover on Boston Red Sox star Nomar Garciaparra featured a "cynically homoerotic image." A sidebar on "New Rules for Baseball" ("Eliminate the Pitcher") is not only funny but also an astute critique of how boring he believes baseball has become. But Thompson never loses sight of his bigger picture: "The only true Blood Sport in this country is high-end Politics." His view of George Bush "a half-bright football coach who goes into a big game without a Game Plan" can sometimes be repetitious. But he hasn't lost his skill as a reporter: e.g., his description of the "exact moment" when he knew Gore would never win Florida when the Bush family appeared on TV "hooting & sneering at the dumbness of the whole world" that they would let Florida slip away.