Fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 (1973)

McGovern's run against Nixon, 1972 Thompson's Rolling Stone dispatches from the 1972 race, stitched into a book, follow George McGovern's insurgent campaign through the primaries and the manic maneuvering at the Miami convention, with Thompson's loathing of Nixon on every page. Parts of it are fictionalized, which is why it is best read alongside a straighter account such as The Boys on the Bus. Yet McGovern's campaign manager, Frank Mankiewicz, called it the least factual, most accurate account of the election, and that is the right way to take it: unreliable on details, right about how a campaign feels from inside.