{{Short description|Book by Evan Wright}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox book | name = Hella Nation | title_orig = | translator = | image = 51mxEIlWW3L. SL500 AA300 .jpg | caption = | author = Evan Wright | country = United States | language = English | publisher = Putnam Adult | release_date = April 2, 2009 | media_type = Hardcover | genre = Essays, Sociology, Military | pages = 352 | isbn = 0-399-15574-0 }}

'''''Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut's War against The Gap, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America''''' is a 2009 book written by journalist Evan Wright, who previously wrote ''Generation Kill''.

''Hella Nation'' 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.<ref name="latimes">{{citation | last = Timberg | first = Scott | title = Evan Wright: Going where the wild things are | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | date = April 5, 2009 | url = https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-evan-wright5-2009apr05,0,3141348,full.story | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121104210129/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-evan-wright5-2009apr05,0,3141348,full.story | url-status = dead | archive-date = November 4, 2012 | access-date = 2010-11-23}}</ref>

==Content and themes==

''Hella Nation'' presents 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 Mötley Crüe<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/evan-wright/hella-nation/|title = HELLA NATION &#124; Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> and a former William Morris Agency talent agent during his darkest hours. One critic compared the collection to the Joan Didion book ''Slouching Towards Bethlehem''.<ref>{{citation | last = Carson | first = Tom | title = Hustle and Flow | newspaper = Los Angeles Magazine | date = April 2009 | url = http://www.lamag.com/featuredarticle.aspx?id=14460+ | access-date = 2010-11-23}}</ref>

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 disturbing, such as crime and pornography, Wright presents them as part "a comically macabre portrait of American life."<ref name="Associated Press">{{citation | last = Astor | first = Michael | title = Author Evan Wright Takes Darkly Comic View of U.S. | newspaper = The Herals | date = April 12, 2009 | url = http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090412/living/704129970 | access-date = 2010-11-23}}</ref>

==Background==

In the first chapter of Hella Nation Wright discusses his friendship with David Foster Wallace<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut's War Against the Gap, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America|author=Wright, E.|date=2009|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|isbn=9780399155741|url=https://archive.org/details/hellanationlooki00evan|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/hellanationlooki00evan/page/13 13]|access-date=2015-04-08}}</ref> who wrote about Wright in one of his own essays titled "Big Red Son" included in Wallace's book ''Consider the Lobster''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080920091912/http://www.observer.com/2008/media/glenn-kenny-premiere observer.com]</ref>

Wright's approach to his subjects has been compared to that of Hunter S. Thompson and is sometimes labelled as Gonzo journalism, although Wright rejected the categorization.<ref>{{citation | last = Moyer | first = Justin | title = Gonzo Once Removed | newspaper = Washington Post | date = April 2009 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050101338.html | access-date = 2010-11-23}}</ref>

Wright stated in an interview with the ''Columbia Journalism Review'' that he had an affinity for writing about outsiders, based on the experience of running away when he was a child and being sent to a home for troubled youth.<ref>{{citation | last = Marcus | first = James | title = High and Outside | newspaper = Columbia Journalism Review | date = April 2009 | url = https://www.cjr.org/page_views/high_and_outside.php}}</ref>

==Awards==

''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.<ref name="vanityfair">{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/evan-wright|title=Evan Wright &#124; Vanity Fair|author=Vanity Fair Magazine|publisher=vanityfair.com|access-date=2015-04-08}}</ref>

==References== <!--- See Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/gd/gd090401evan_wright/ Wright's Guest DeeJay Project on KCRW] * [https://www.c-span.org/video/?285490-7/hella-nation Interview with Wright on ''Hella Nation'' at the ''L.A. Times'' Festival of Books, April 26, 2009]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hella Nation}} Category:2009 non-fiction books Category:Military books Category:Non-fiction books about war