The Joke's Over: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson

Description

Ralph Steadman's hilarious and revealing story of his bizarre and crazy relationship with Hunter Thompson. In the spring of 1970, Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for. In Kentucky to cover the Derby, he met a former Hells Angel called Hunter S. Thompson. Their meeting resulted in a working relationship and a friendship that lasted for more than thirty years and spanned the turbulent years of the Civil Rights movement, Nixon and Watergate, and the decay of the American Dream. Few people knew Thompson as well as Ralph Steadman did. In this unique memoir Steadman tells his story for the first time, the story - in words and pictures - of Ralph and Hunter, a great British original on a great American original, Butch and Sundance on acid...

Ralph Steadman is one of the greats of cartooning history, an international cult figure and part of a British tradition that runs from Gillray to Searle. He illustrated Hunter S. Thompson's great classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and is the writer and artist of books ranging from Leonardo (on da Vinci) to The Grapes of Ralph (on wine).

Praise for The Joke's Over: His drawings are the perfect foil for the deranged clarity of Thompson's writings. The Joke's Over, Steadman's memoir of working with Thompson, is full of entertaining anecdotes * Financial Times * Indispensible * GQ * His book is funny, interesting, sad in parts and a valuable insight into the counterculture era of tune in, turn on and drop out. Maybe his weird drawings will outlast Thompson's overwrought prose. * Daily Mail * Hilarious * TLS * Fascinating... full of sad charm, and not too full of Hunter - just full enough... This memoir has undeniable depth, thanks to Steadman's willingness to not merely record his life-threatening relationship with Thompson, but to do a bit of collateral detective work of his own * Guardian *