Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child In the Final Days of the American Century is a book by Hunter S. Thompson, published in 2003. The book is a collection of writings about Thompson's past that focuses on the theme of rebellion against authority. Many of the stories are placed in the context of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and its emphasis on heightened police and military operations.[1]
The book seems to begin as memoir or an autobiography, but rapidly devolves into numerous fragmented accounts of Thompson's exploits which could be termed as a type of Gonzo biography. There is a rough adherence to actual chronology though many events in the book are not in order. However, some continuity does exist throughout the work, for example, the "Witness" segments, dealing with Gail Palmer's sexual assault lawsuit against Thompson, appearing once every section in roughly the same area. In addition to these larger narratives, there are also several sections which hold no connection to each other in any way, with the exception of some of the same people or places from a previous section being mentioned.
Among the events, the ones which seem to be as closely related to Thompson's life include:
Writing and punctuation themes are more pronounced in Kingdom of Fear than in many of Thompson's previous works. In particular, he habitually uses the following alterations:
Thompson also used this style in the contemporary Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness.