Only one book defined the collapse of the 1960s drug generation with that certain panache that the author dubbed "gonzo-journalism": Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. For a reader with no previous knowledge of Thompson's work, this nonfiction account of his escapades in Las Vegas is a good introduction to his no-holds-barred style.

Within the book Thompson and his attorney travel to the city of sin to cover the Mint 400, a motorcross race that is taking place in the desert. The catch is that they have a trunk full of every drug imaginable and plan to use all of them. Thompson ends up almost completely disregarding the motorcross race and searches frantically for what he calls the "American Dream."

Most of the book is written through a drug-addled haze with a schizophrenic edge. The reader is submersed into Thompson's mind in the narrative, which can be a refreshing yet chaotic place to be. The reader's attention will be fully grasped throughout the book because Thompson and his crazed attorney commit one obscene action after another.

The book offers much more social commentary than would be expected from someone so hopped up on hallucinogens. Thompson seethes at the start of the 1970s because the peace and the love of the '60s generation died in that decade. Even though Thompson knows he is a huge part of the drug problem, he addresses pertinent issues surrounding the war on drugs and the time warp that is Las Vegas.

Thompson notes the complete irony of his attendance at a district attorney's drug conference, but he also writes on how behind they are in their conceptions and notions of the drug culture.

The commentary is especially jarring because current films like Traffic address these issues flat-out. Of course, Thompson cannot be seen as a great advocator for the war on drugs. The war on drugs is a war on everything he is and stands for within this book.

The book was compiled from Thompson's articles in Rolling Stone magazine on Nov. 11 and 25, 1971, written under the pen name Raoul Duke. The reader will completely understand why Thompson used a pen name after reading the book; jail would have been the only option for him.

The book was made into a movie starring the gaunt-faced Johnny Depp as a pretty accurate depiction of Thompson, and was directed eloquently by former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam. But the book still offers up much more insight and doesn't quite make the acts of Thompson look like what they really were — random, drunken, drug-crazed and irresponsible debauchery.