Hella Nation
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Hella Nation
| Author | Evan Wright |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Essays, Sociology,Military |
| Publisher | Putnam Adult |
Publication date | April 2, 2009 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 0399155740 |
Hella Nation is a 2009 book written by journalist Evan Wright that mostly chronicles different subcultures across America he encountered while working for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines. It also includes a chapter profiling soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division who Wright accompanied in the early days of the war in Afghanistan. All but one of the essays were previously published as magazine pieces, but the versions published in the book have been greatly expanded.[1]
Themes
Hella Nation was published after Wright's first book Generation Kill and features Wright's portraits of a variety of American subcultures and oddball personalities, including tree-dwelling ecoterrorists, Aryan Nation skinheads, Internet con artists, porn stars, the rock band Motley Crue and a former William Morris talent agent during his darkest hours. One critic compared the collection to the Joan Didion book Slouching Towards Bethlehem.[2]
The book includes an essay by Wright about his first experiences as a journalist while working as an adult film reviewer at Hustler magazine. Though many of the subjects covered in the book are dark Wright presents them as part "a comically macabre portrait of American life." [3]
In the first essay of Hella Nation Wright discusses his friendship with David Foster Wallace[4] who wrote about Wright in one of his own essays titled "Big Red Son" included in Wallace's book Consider the Lobster.[5]
Wright's approach to his subjects has been compared to that of Hunter S. Thompson and is sometimes labelled as Gonzo through Wright rejects the categorization. [6]
Wright claims a personal affinity to all of his subjects.[7]
Hella Nation includes an expanded version of an essay, "Pat Dollard's War on Hollywood" for which Wright received the 2008 National Magazine Award for profile writing. [8]
References
- ^ Timberg, Scott (April 5, 2009), "Evan Wright: Going where the wild things are", Los Angeles Times, retrieved 2010-11-23
- ^ Carson, Tom (April 2009), "Hustle and Flow", Los Angeles Magazine, retrieved 2010-11-23
- ^ Astor, Michael (April 12, 2009), "Author Evan Wright Takes Darkly Comic View of U.S.", The Herals, retrieved 2010-11-23
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=CvASySus0tYC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=%22consider+the+lobster%22+evan+wright&source=bl&ots=6QaS8HzV-I&sig=2ki0YIO4cuFasf2MrTLJayDHPYM&hl=en&ei=SPLtTIuIGo6asAOtgI3vCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CC4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ http://www.observer.com/2008/media/glenn-kenny-premiere
- ^ Moyer, Justin (April 2009), "Gonzo Once Removed", Washington Post, retrieved 2010-11-23
- ^ {{cite | last = Marcus | first = James | author-link = | title = High and Outside | newspaper = Columbia Journalism Review | date = April 2009 | url = http://www.cjr.org/page_views/high_and_outside.php
- ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/evan-wright