A number of themes run throughout Burroughs' works, one of them being the hypocrisy and the idiocy of the war on drugs. Burroughs, who himself was addicted to heroin and had to take methadone treatments for the rest of his life, was often called on to speak of the evils of drug use. He would refuse. In these journals, he condemns Richard Nixon, who once referred to LSD-guru Timothy Leary (a good friend of Burroughs) as one of "the most dangerous men in America." Burroughs also comments on the banality of the criminal status of marijuana. He observes the hypocrisy of certain substances, like alcohol and tobacco, being legal and accessible to the public, while a far less harmful drug like marijuana is criminalized. This also echoes another theme found in Burroughs' works: mistrust of those in authority, be they law enforcement personnel, government officials or those in the media. Burroughs also comments on events that happened during this time, such as the Heaven's Gate Mass Suicide ( whose leader he refers to as "Piper Do").

Yet the true joy in this book is not found in Burrough's wry observations on society, but instead in ruminations on his daily life. After years of traveling the world and living in every place imaginable (New York, Paris, Tangiers and London to name a few), Burroughs retired to Lawrence, Kansas to live out his life. His later years were spent traveling, writing, lecturing, reading, caring for his cats and receiving many visitors; a far cry from his younger years (just read Junky if you want to see what I mean). He writes about these such events in his journals, be it receiving a young fan in his home, visiting the methadone clinic and seeing his favorite nurses, meeting with actor Steve Buscemi over the possibilities of making Junky into a movie or filming a music video with U2 (remember the "Last Night on Earth" video and the old man at the end? That was Burroughs). Yet most fascinating of all is Burroughs' growing disillusionment with secular humanism, and his move towards a more mystical, magical view of the universe.

There are also reminisces over people from his past: good, like fellow Beat Herbert Huncke or Byron Gysin (who, along with Burroughs, helped develop the "cut-up" technique of writing) or bad, like Mr. Faulkner, a narcotics agent who was the one who arrested Burroughs for possession charges in New Orleans in 1949 and was the brother of writer William Faulkner.

Incidents from Burroughs' past also have light shed upon them in this book. Much has been written about Burroughs' accidental killing of his wife Joan in 1951, and it haunted Burroughs ever since (he credits that one incident for turning him into a writer). Understandably little is said about it. Yet Burroughs' school days in Los Alamos are mentioned at length and how much he despised them, as well as his marrying of a Jewish intellectual in 1937 so she could escape the Nazi regime (an incident Jack Kerouac alluded to in On the Road ). Then there are writings in this book that just seem to be random thoughts, most notably Burrough's fascination with the alien abduction phenomenon. The length at which Burroughs discusses this makes it sound as if he was planning on writing a book about it. Burroughs was friends with Whitley Strieber, author of the alien abduction novel Communion and was supposedly abducted several times himself, and Burroughs actually once spent time with him in hopes that he himself would be abducted. It is interesting to note that Burroughs' fascination with this subject might stem from childhood; in the prologue of Junky he mentions seeing "little men" outside of his house at nights. Perhaps Burroughs himself had encounters with these aliens when he was younger?

Sometimes it seems like the public's perception of Burroughs was that he was some sort of cold, emotionless robot, and it would be easy to have such a perception. Many of his books are cold; the language is often harsh. The flat, monotone voice in which Burroughs read and spoke didn't help matters either. And yet those closest to him said different. James Grauerholz, long time friend of Burroughs and editor of Last Words , once said that not a day went by that Burroughs didn't think of Joan. And in Last Words we the reader get to see this side of Burroughs.

Allen Ginsberg, who along with Burroughs and Jack Kerouac helped found the Beat Generation, died on April 5, 1997. The loss affected Burroughs greatly. Burroughs writes surprisingly little about Allen's death, seeing as how deeply it affected him. Yet what he did write was very touching and quite moving. Allen's attitude towards his death, of which he said he was "exhilarated," may have gone a long way in helping Burroughs' deal with his own impending end. Last Words most touching moments come whenever Burroughs writes about his cats. To say that Burroughs was a cat lover is a gross understatement. He owned three cats, and one of them died while he was keeping these journals. His description of the loss that he felt over the cat's death is quite riveting.

The final entry in Last Words , dated July 30, 1997, is quite powerful, perhaps the most powerful line Burroughs has ever wrote. It almost seems like he was aware that his death was coming soon, and decided to make the last thing he ever wrote the most powerful of all.