If you're a hardcore Hunter fan, you're probably read many of the collected interviews here. Still, it's terrific to find them all between two covers. Thompson's 1974 Playboy interview is included, along with pieces from High Times and even the Paris Review. Kevin Simonson (a co-editor here), William McKeen, Douglas Brinkley and many others all contribute terrific material.

Reading multiple pieces like this under one roof provides a little clearer picture of this renegade scribe. The same subjects keep rising to the surface: drugs, literary influences, the definition of "gonzo," and living life on the periphery.

Typically, Thompson comes across as a pretty arrogant, mean-spirited soul. He delights in matching wits with the man across the table and deliberately tries to enrage and shock. But he is still funny as hell, and hearing him talk about his own peculiar writing process and the details of his work is enthralling.