Autobiogtraphy of a Brown Buffalo - Oscar Zeta Acosta

Author: Oscar Zeta Acosta
Publisher: First Vintage Books
Publish Date: 1972
Genre: autobiographical
Pages: 204
RRP: £6.47 Amazon Price: £5.52

***Who is Oscar Zeta Acosta*** edited from Revolt of the Cockroach People
Oscar Zeta Acosta was a man of many faces; He was an attorney specialising in human rights, he spent time in the Air Force, he was a fledging politician, he was a Chicano movement ...
...professional life but as a man he was much more complicated. For those of you who have read Hunter S Thompson's Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas, or seen the film starring Johnny Depp and Benito Del Toro, you will know Acosta as Samoan, Thompson's perpetually drugged out attorney and friend.

Acosta's keen use of marijuana, amphetamines and particularly the hallucinogenic, LSD are well documented not only by others but also by the man ... more

Author: Oscar Zeta Acosta
Publisher: First Vintage Books
Publish Date: 1972
Genre: autobiographical
Pages: 204
RRP: £6.47 Amazon Price: £5.52

***Who is Oscar Zeta Acosta*** edited from Revolt of the Cockroach People
Oscar Zeta Acosta was a man of many faces; He was an attorney specialising in human rights, he spent time in the Air Force, he was a fledging politician, he was a Chicano movement activist and he was an writer. That sums up his professional life but as a man he was much more complicated. For those of you who have read Hunter S Thompson's Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas, or seen the film starring Johnny Depp and Benito Del Toro, you will know Acosta as Samoan, Thompson's perpetually drugged out attorney and friend.

Acosta's keen use of marijuana, amphetamines and particularly the hallucinogenic, LSD are well documented not only by others but also by the man himself.

Acosta's involvement with the Chicano movement, earned him a reputation not only among the Chicano groups he defended and fought side by side with, but also with the LAPD and even the FBI who saw him as a threat. His campaign running for Sheriff of Los Angels County in 1970 only added to their mistrust and disdain, particularly as Acosta - who spent several days jailed on different occasions for contempt of court, vowed that if elected, he would do away with the Sheriff's office.

*The disappearance of Oscar Zeta Acosta*
Acosta disappeared in 1974 while travelling in Mexico. There are a number of wild theories about what happened to him. Some even claim the FBI were involved but the most popular theory is that Acota met his maker while travelling aboard a boat on a cocaine run. His son Mark believes that "...knowing the people he was involved with, he ended up mouthing off, getting into a fight and getting killed." His body was never found.

***What is the book about***
Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo introduces us to the manic and paranoid lawyer at a time when he is questioning who he is and what he is capable of and before he became Zeta, leader of the brown buffalos.

In the middle of the pshycedelic sixties, Oscar walks out on his job as a public defender lawyer with little more than a belly-full of ulsers to show for it. What follows is a journey that jumps choppily from his years as a young over-weight chicano virgin, to mescaline fueled guacamole parties. From first loves and whore-houses to playing in the band as a fully signed up member of the Air Force. From being hung upside down in a barn by his father as punishment for lying to Finding his ambition to write with the help of his College professor.

The book is held together with poignant observations from Oscar’s therapist who pops up with advice in the most awkward places at the most awkward times.

***What I thought about it***
I had read Acosta’s second book Revolt of the Cockroach People some time ago (see review) and had been thoroughly impressed. Reading that made me anxious to read The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo and ultimately led to my eventual purchases through Amazon.

Acosta is without a doubt an interesting man and it is that interest and the intrigue and unpredictability that makes him such a readable writer.

The difference between the two books is marked. While Revolt of the Cockroach People is all about Acosta’s fire and passion and the fight that burn inside him. Brown Buffallo revolves around a period in his life when that fire hadn’t properly surfaced yet.

On a literary level, the effort Acosta made in this book is abundantly clear. Although he may not have always succeeded, his attention to detail is more pronounced and he is substantially more focused on the direction the story is heading in. He has also taken time to incorporate twists in his story-telling by jumping back and forth through time and introducing his doctor as a fictional but constant fixture in his mind. These are clever tricks that almost work in fooling the reader into believing Acosta’s writing style is more insightful that perhaps it is.

I enjoyed the stories of Acosta growing up. There is a self-loathing in his words and an acceptance that surprises me when I compare the cocky school boy to the cocky outspoken lawyer he later became. Acosta is painfully aware of his short-comings and mocks them before others can, but his genuine and untainted soul can be seen when he tells us of his willingness to fight for the girl he loved or his unwillingness to join in the fun at the brothels his friends visited. He see an early flicker of the flame in him when he stands strong against his mother in pure defiance and we understand his need to help the underdog when we see him struggle with his position in life.

I wasn’t taken by the over done drug scenes which seemed to feature nothing more than a spun out, desperate and weak man alienating the so-called friends around him and deepening the hole beneath him. This wouldn’t be a problem if we saw more direction derive from these episodes before the end of the. Although I can understand how they contributed to his journey of self discovery, they felt more like the boastings of a teenage school kid than the ramblings of an intelligent man. I resented feeling pity for this wounded man though found it impossible not to.

All in all, this was an interesting book although I must admit to being disappointed following The Revolt of the Cockroach People. The pre-Zeta Acosta was not the same, exciting passionate man he later became. Although the story may clear up some questions I have had about Oscar Zeta Acosta, It has left me with one unanswerable question – What would have happened if he had lived?

*A poignant quote about the man from a source close to him*
"Oscar was not into serious street-fighting, but he was hell on wheels in a bar brawl. Any combination of a 250 lb [113 kg] Mexican and LSD-25 is a potentially terminal menace for anything it can reach - but when the alleged Mexican is in fact a profoundly angry Chicano lawyer with no fear at all of anything that walks on less than three legs and a de facto suicidal condition that he will die at the age of 33 - just like Jesus Christ - you have a serious piece of work on your hands. Specially if the bastard is already 33 1/2 years old with a head full of Sandoz acid, a loaded .357 Magnum in his belt, a hatchet-wielding Chicano bodyguard on his elbow at all times, and a disconcerting habit of projectile vomiting geysers of pure blood off the front porch every 30 or 40 minutes, or whenever his malignant ulcer can't handle any more raw tequila."
- Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone #254, Dec. 15, 1977 

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