Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Thompson, Hunter S - 1971

New York: Random House, 1971. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good/Very Good. Steadman, Ralph. 12mo. First edition stated. Quarter black cloth, grey paper boards. Boards are sunned and worn to extremities. Spine cocked, soiling to cloth. Dust jacket is chipped to extremities, long tear repaired with archival tape. The incredible tale of a drug-crazed journey to Las Vegas in search of the "American dream." As the book opens, the author and his Samoan attorney are speeding toward Vegas to cover a motorcycle race called the Mint 400 for Sports Illustrated. The trunk of their rented Shark convertible "looked like a mobile police narcotics lab."...And thus the heinous trip begins. Abandoning their efforts to cover the race, Thompson records a demented odyssey in the hotels, bars, and casinos of Vegas, including a hash-addled visit to the Desert Inn to catch the Debbie Reynolds-Harry James show and the fantastic Circus-Circus. The madness builds as they find themselves trapped with no money to pay the bill in their swanky downtown hotel...then manage to infiltrate a national District Attorney's Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is brilliantly, outrageously funny, and secured Hunter Thompson's reputation as a unique American journalist-writer.