Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.

THOMPSON, Hunter S.; Illustrations by Ralph Steadman [Jimmy Carter.

Item Number: 99428

San Francisco: Arrow Books, 1973.

First edition of the author’s third book and hallmark of campaign journalism. Octavo, original black boards. Boldly signed by Hunter Thompson on the half-title page and subjects, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart and illustrator, Ralph Steadman. Fine in a near fine first issue price-clipped dust jacket with the white boarder around the photograph of Thompson and McGovern on the rear panel. The book is notable for its introduction not only to the candidates of 1972 but also its early glimpses of future political leaders. Gary Hart of Colorado, who served as McGovern’s campaign manager and would later run for and win a seat in the United States Senate, and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, who would himself capture the 1976 Democratic nomination and Presidency. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. A unique example with this collection of signatures.

Forty years after its original publication, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 remains a cornerstone of American political journalism and one of the bestselling campaign books of all time. Hunter S. Thompson’s searing account of the battle for the 1972 presidency—from the Democratic primaries to the eventual showdown between George McGovern and Richard Nixon—is infused with the characteristic wit, intensity, and emotional engagement that made Thompson "the flamboyant apostle and avatar of gonzo journalism" (The New York Times). Hilarious, terrifying, insightful, and compulsively readable, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 is an epic political adventure that captures the feel of the American democratic process better than any other book ever written. "Thompson should be recognized for contributing some of the clearest, most bracing and fearless analysis of the possibilities and failures of American democracy in the past century" (Chicago Tribune).