The Great Shark Hunt (1979)

The Great Shark Hunt is a book by Hunter S. Thompson, originally published in 1979. It is also known as Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time. The book is a roughly 600-page collection of Thompson's essays from 1956 to the end of the 1970s, including the rise of the author's own gonzo journalism style as he moved from Air Force and sports beat writing to straight-ahead political commentary. It is the first of what would become four volumes in The Gonzo Papers series.

Contents

The book has four sections, not strictly chronological, beginning with a collection of his more famous Gonzo-style articles, including those about the Kentucky Derby, Olympic skier Jean-Claude Killy, his Chicano lawyer friend Oscar Zeta Acosta ("Strange Rumblings in Aztlan"), and the 1973 Super Bowl. Next is a section on politics, including excerpts from his book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and a group of articles from 1973 and 1974 documenting the last months of Richard Nixon's presidency. The third section has a selection of Thompson's earliest writing, including for National Observer and the U.S. Air Force. The last section comprises later cultural commentary and other items. Sections from the author's two original Fear and Loathing serials (...in Las Vegas and on the Campaign Trail '72) are excerpted. Thompson worked for several different publications throughout his career, and The Great Shark Hunt includes articles from the National Observer, Rolling Stone, Scanlan's Monthly, The New York Times, Playboy, and others.

Personalities depicted by the author as cavorting about with him include his illustrator and friend Ralph Steadman, Chicano lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta, Jean-Claude Killy, and then-football player O. J. Simpson. Political figures appearing prominently in the collection include former U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.

The book omits the illustrations by Ralph Steadman that originally accompanied many of the Thompson articles in this collection.

Contents

From the 1992 Simon & Schuster paperback edition, with bibliographies by Kihm Winship