I just need a place to articulate the fit of rage that befell me when I found out exactly what author Peter O. Whitmer did for a job before writing. As I recall, on the jacket of _When the Going Gets Weird_, it states that Whitmer used to drum for 60's rock group The Turtles. This was a mediocre commercial band that, in the mid-80's, decided to sue the incredibly awesome, fun and mellow rap group De La Soul for pirating a sample of the Turtles' music and using it on a De La Soul track. De La Soul neither paid nor credited the Turtles for the sample, which was slowed down and barely recognizable. Basically the record industry wanted to make an example of De La Soul as a warning to other rap artists not to sample tracks without paying the proper exorbitant fees. De La Soul did do something illegal, but I don't really think they deserved to get bankrupted by a large corporation with an army of lawyers for the sake of keeping the status quo in place. Especially since their music is more original, influental, and important to American music history than the Turtles' so-so pop dreck ever was. Peter Whitmer was a part of a decidedly non-Gonzo act, and the fact that his claim to fame is writing a book about the originator of Gonzo really pisses me off.
Aside from that, Whitmer's book is good, very much worth purchasing since it collates a bunch of biographical shit about HST that you're never ever ever going to see together anywhere else. It can't stand on its own merit but it's a great research tool.