Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is largely fictional, despite being published as general nonfiction by Random House in 1972. Only about 25% of the events described in the book actually occurred.

The real story began when Thompson was investigating the death of activist Ruben Salazar for Rolling Stone magazine. Fearing for his safety in Los Angeles, he took his source, attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta, to Las Vegas. There, Thompson was supposed to cover the Mint 400 race for Sports Illustrated, which rejected his submission.

What Really Happened:

• Thompson and Acosta did visit Las Vegas twice in 1971
• They really did have a conversation about the American Dream at a Boulder City taco stand
• The events took place over a month apart, not a week as depicted in the book

What Didn't Happen:

• The infamous trunk full of drugs never existed
• The Mint Hotel room destruction and soap theft never occurred
• The Debbie Reynolds show incident was fabricated
• The high-speed police chase with a beer in hand was fictional

Thompson himself admitted to "imposing an essentially fictional framework on what began as a piece of straight/crazy journalism." The book was written primarily in a hotel room in Arcadia, California, while he completed his article about Salazar.

K.J. Howe, a former Mint publicity executive, confirmed that many of the book's wild scenarios never occurred at the hotel. Thompson's creative liberties transformed what began as legitimate journalism assignments into a surreal commentary on the American Dream.

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