January 2020 Auction Ends Thursday, January 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/30/2020
Fantastic Hunter S. Thompson typed letter with hand-annotations, nearly every sentence containing a pithy, fierce and astute observation about American politics and culture. Thompson writes on 23 May 1964 from the road in Butte, Montana, on Finlen Hotel stationery to his friend Paul Semonin in Ghana. He writes in part, ''Dear Bobo: You have failed in every way to combat my wisdom. I therefore urge you to foreswear politics. It is a tub of dirty water. The more I write about it the more I piss on it. The fatbellies are well entrenched, long-rooted and much tougher in the clinches than I thought. What we knew in Louisville were the drone bees of the system; the big boys all carry Magnums. Their strength is not in their action, but their staying power and god awful resilience. I am coining to have a lot of sympathy for Mao, but less and less belief as time goes by.
By dealing in politics you accept their terms. Politics is economics, and when you deal in that league you are on the fatbellies' home court. All political revolutions start out to create a frame of reference, and end by accepting one. Marxism is over the hump for the time being; we will both be old men before the world power structure rests on another three-cornered sense of humor like Kruschev, Kennedy and Pope John.
I was wrong when I said the negro had already won his fight in this country. In the flux of the Kennedy structure he was on his way, but the Johnson gang is sewing up the holes on us all. That is the climate. Political fatigue is on us all, even Castro. The tides have shifted considerably since you left last summer. Look at Brazil...Out here in Butte it is not easy to be sure about anything, but I get the scent and I have to trust it or lay myself open to bullshit from every angle.
I am on a swing and it is a fucking nightmare. Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and the Dakotas, Wyoming and back to SF. The language barrier is immense. If you thought you were in the 'west' down in Aspen you better think again. That is a suburb of Manhattan with western trappings. What it will come to I can't say, but I am seriously considering Mexico -- but not for the politics...The finality of the choice has just come into focus for me, and it makes me nervous. HST''. Thompson then hand-writes at top, ''What are your plans? Dates? Places? Reasons, etc?'' Single page letter measures 8.5'' x 11''. Folds and light wear, otherwise near fine condition.
Hunter Thompson Letter With Hand Annotations -- ''...we will both be old men before the world power structure rests on another three-cornered sense of humor like Kruschev, Kennedy and Pope John...''
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