Monday, November 22, 2021

Hunter and Oscar in the Los Angeles Review of Books

I wrote an article about Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta for the Los Angeles Review of Books. I wanted to tell the story behind "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as well as "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan." I also wanted to respond to Abby Aguirre's article on the same topic in The New Yorker.

After submitting my article, I was in touch with Abby about hers. As it turns out, she wrote a much longer draft that made many of the points I did, but her editor cut that material. So there's even more common ground between us than my article suggests. I also learned that Abby has a deep and longstanding interest in both authors. She grew up near Thompson's place in Woody Creek and was well aware of Acosta, though her opinion of him changed upon rereading his work recently. She really knows her stuff.

No comments: