Hunter S. Thompson was a writer and journalist who created Gonzo journalism, which involved getting into the action of the story and stretching the truth. He wrote books such as Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and was a savage satirist who railed against corporate greed and corrupt politicians. He ran for Aspen County sheriff in 1970 and two films have been made about his life. He committed suicide in 2005 and his ashes were shot from a cannon at his funeral.
Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1937. He was a writer and journalist who created a new kind of journalism called Gonzo. This involved not only writing what was happening, but also getting into the action of the story. Gonzo journalism also involved creating a story where there wasn’t one before, stretching the truth until you couldn’t tell fact from fiction.
Hunter S. Thompson landed his first writing job with the US Air Force. He wrote sports articles, but left the Air Force after only a year with an honorable discharge. From his youth he had an aversion to authority and rules, and this continued throughout his life.
As a young man, Hunter S. Thompson embodied the concept of the traveling journalist, always on the go. Wherever he got a writing job, he would leave. San Juan, South America, Big Sur, always writing and always in debt. Her collection of writings from this part of his life, published in his book, The Proud Highway, tells of a man relentlessly through debt and disaster. His sole purpose was to print his words.
Thompson’s first book was Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. He wrote from a personal point of view, giving up objectivity and journalistic protocol. Thompson immersed himself in the Hell’s Angels lifestyle. The book became a best seller and the Hell’s Angels thanked Thompson by beating him severely.
In his next and most famous book, Hunter S. Thompson would take Gonzo’s journalism to the extreme. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, published in 1971, is now considered one of the great American novels. It details a drug-fueled trip to Las Vegas with Thompson as Raoul Duke accompanied by his attorney, Dr. Gonzo. The book adheres to the rule that the best fiction is truer than any journalism.
Hunter S. Thompson was a savage satirist. Books like The Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed resonated with a generation disillusioned by the atrocities of Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Thompson loved to rail against corporate “greed” and corrupt politicians. The satire was biting, and though exaggerated, he never strayed from the truth.
Always a political animal, Hunter S. Thompson ran for Aspen County sheriff in 1970. He lost by a small amount of votes, but wrote the account in his book, Better than Sex. Hollywood soon recognized the potential in Thompson’s work and to date two films have been made about his life. Bill Murray played Hunter S. Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam and Johnny Depp played him in the film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Hunter S. Thompson has never been mainstream. He has always embraced underground and counterculture lifestyles. In 2005, Thompson committed suicide with a shotgun to the head. It was the same method used by Ernest Hemingway, one of his favorite writers. At his funeral, his ashes were shot from a cannon, a fitting epitaph for a man who lived his life strangely, quickly, and dangerously.
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