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Considered the Hispanic Malcolm X, Acosta was a friend of Hunter Thompson and is portrayed as the Samoan in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Born in El Paso in 1935, Acosta later served in the air force, attended college, and graduated from law school. He coined the term "gonzo journalism" and wrote a number of articles as well as two books, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo and The Revolt of the Cockroach People.

He was politically active for the Chicanos in Los Angeles, where he ran for the sheriff's office. In 1974 on a vacation in Mexico, he disappeared. Acosta is already a mythic figure among Chicanos, and this book should make him part of the Hispanic collective consciousness.

Ilan Stavans examines the public and private persona of Acosta, his life and writings, and his work as a lawyer and activist among Chicanos, who total some nine million people and live mainly in California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.