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British Art, Animators, Cartoonists, & Illustrators - Biography, U.S. Authors - 20th Century - Literary Biography, Journalists - News & Media Biography, Illustration
The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson and Me by Ralph Steadman — book cover

The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson and Me

by Ralph Steadman, Kurt Vonnegut
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Overview

In the spring of 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for when he met Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. Their remarkable collaboration resulted in the now-legendary Gonzo Journalism, which would document the civil rights movement, the Nixon administration, Watergate, and the many bizarre and great events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. When Thompson committed suicide in 2005, it was the end of a unique friendship filled with both betrayal and understanding. A rollicking, no-holds-barred memoir, The Joke’s Over is the definitive inside story of the Gonzo years.

Synopsis

In the spring of 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for when he met Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. Their remarkable collaboration resulted in the now-legendary Gonzo Journalism, which would document the civil rights movement, the Nixon administration, Watergate, and the many bizarre and great events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. When Thompson committed suicide in 2005, it was the end of a unique friendship filled with both betrayal and understanding. A rollicking, no-holds-barred memoir, The Joke s Over is the definitive inside story of the Gonzo years.

The New York Times - Will Blythe

The illustrator Ralph Steadman is a brave man. Not only did he survive humiliation, gunplay and hallucinatory despair through decades of collaboration with the legendarily difficult journalist Hunter S. Thompson, he decided to include as the epigraph to his memoir of those adventures a remark of Thompson s: Don t write, Ralph. You ll bring shame on your family.

About the Author, Ralph Steadman

RALPH STEADMAN has illustrated many books, including Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the fiftieth-anniversary edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He is the author of The Grapes of Ralph (for which he won a Glenfiddich Food & Drink Award), Still Life with Bottle, The Book of Jones, and Gonzo: The Art.

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Editorials

New York Post

"Terrific . . . Steadman’s testament to Thompson, light on hyperbole, is both fitting and touching."

BookPage

"The Joke’s Over is a must read for both longtime fans of Thompson, and the curious."

Buffalo News

"A vivid, well-written paean to Thompson and, by extension, the character of the American rebel."

Boston Globe

"Enormously entertaining."

Book Details

Published
October 1, 2007
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages
416
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780156032506

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