View source for Hunter S. Thompson

{{short description|American journalist and author (1937–2005)}}
{{redirect|Hunter Thompson|the musician|Hunter G.&nbsp;K. Thompson}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| birth_name       = Hunter Stockton Thompson
| pseudonym        = Raoul Duke
| nickname         = HST<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter S. Thompson |title=Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson |date=2009 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-6595-9 |contribution=Introduction |quote=The notes were always signed: OK/HST. |contributor=Paul Scanlon}}</ref>
| image            = Hunter S. Thompson, Las Vegas 1971.jpg
| alt              = Portrait photograph of a 33-year-old man wearing a denim jacket, a bucket hat, and sunglasses
| caption          = Thompson in 1971
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1937|7|18}}
| birth_place      = [[Louisville, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2005|2|20|1937|7|18}}
| death_place      = [[Woody Creek, Colorado]], U.S.
| genre            = [[Gonzo journalism]]
| movement         = [[New Journalism]]
| notableworks     = {{unbulleted list | ''[[Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs|Hell's Angels]]'' (1967) | ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' (1971) | ''[[Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72]]'' (1973) | ''[[The Rum Diary (novel)|The Rum Diary]]'' (1998)}}
| spouse           = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|Sandra Conklin|1963|1980|reason=divorced}} | {{marriage|Anita Bejmuk|2003}}}}
| children         = 1
| signature        = Hunter S. Thompson signature.svg
| signature_alt    = H S. Thompson
| years_active     = 1958–2005
| module           = {{Infobox military person
| embed         = yes
| allegiance    = {{flag|United States}}
| branch        = {{flag|United States Air Force}}
| branch_label  = Branch
| unit          = [[Strategic Air Command]], Office of Information Services
| rank          = [[File:E3 USAF AM1.svg|alt=A1C insignia|x12px]] [[Airman first class]]
| serviceyears  = 1955–58
| serviceyears_label = Service&nbsp;years
| servicenumber = AF 15546879
}}
}}

'''Hunter Stockton Thompson''' (July 18, 1937&nbsp;– February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. He rose to prominence with the publication of ''[[Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs|Hell's Angels]]'' (1967), a book for which he spent a year living with the [[Hells Angels]] motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences. In 1970, he wrote an unconventional article titled "[[The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved]]" for ''[[Scanlan's Monthly]]'', which further raised his profile as a [[countercultural]] figure. It also set him on the path to establishing his own subgenre of [[New Journalism]] that he called "[[Gonzo journalism|Gonzo]]", a journalistic style in which the writer becomes a central figure and participant in the events of the narrative.

Thompson remains best known for ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' (1972), a book first serialized in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in which he grapples with the implications of what he considered the failure of the [[1960s counterculture]] movement. It was adapted for film twice: loosely in 1980 in ''[[Where the Buffalo Roam]]'' and explicitly in 1998 in ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]''.

Thompson ran unsuccessfully for [[sheriff]] of [[Pitkin County]], [[Colorado]] in 1970 on the Freak Power ticket. He became known for his intense dislike of [[Richard Nixon]], who he claimed represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character".<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 21, 2005 |title=Obituary: Hunter S Thompson |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4283349.stm |url-status=live |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825145852/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4283349.stm |archive-date=August 25, 2017}}</ref> He covered [[George McGovern]]'s [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential campaign]] for ''Rolling Stone'' and later collected the stories in book form as ''[[Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72]]'' (1973).

Starting in the mid-1970s, Thompson's output declined, as he struggled with the consequences of fame and substance abuse, and failed to complete several high-profile assignments for ''Rolling Stone''. For much of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked as a columnist for the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]''. Most of his work from 1979 to 1994 was collected in ''[[The Gonzo Papers]]''. He continued to write sporadically for various outlets, including ''Rolling Stone,'' ''[[Playboy]]'', ''[[Esquire Magazine|Esquire]],'' and [[ESPN.com]] until the end of his life.

Thompson was known for his lifelong use of alcohol and illegal drugs, his love of [[firearm]]s, and his [[iconoclastic]] contempt for authority. He often remarked: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 21, 2005 |title=Hunter S Thompson: in his own words |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/21/huntersthompson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823050434/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/21/huntersthompson |archive-date=August 23, 2021 |access-date=August 23, 2021 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Thompson died by suicide at the age of 67, following a series of health problems. [[Hari Kunzru]] wrote, "The true voice of Thompson is revealed to be that of American moralist&nbsp;... one who often makes himself ugly to expose the ugliness he sees around him."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kunzru |first=Hari |date=October 15, 1998 |title=Hari Kunzru reviews 'The Rum Diary' by Hunter S. Thompson and 'The Proud Highway' by Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Douglas Brinkley · LRB 15 October 1998 |pages=33–34 |work=London Review of Books |publisher=Lrb.co.uk |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v20/n20/hari-kunzru/the-first-person-steroid-enhanced |url-status=live |access-date=October 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705054658/https://www.lrb.co.uk/v20/n20/hari-kunzru/the-first-person-steroid-enhanced |archive-date=July 5, 2017}}</ref>

==Early life==
Thompson was born into a middle-class family in [[Louisville]], [[Kentucky]], the first of three sons of Virginia Davison Ray (1908, [[Springfield, Kentucky]] – March 20, 1998, Louisville), who worked as head librarian at the [[Louisville Free Public Library]] and Jack Robert Thompson (September 4, 1893, [[Horse Cave, Kentucky]] – July 3, 1952, Louisville), a public insurance adjuster and [[World War I]] veteran.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reitwiesner |first=William Addams |title=Ancestry of Hunter Thompson |url=http://www.wargs.com/other/thompson.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803231149/http://www.wargs.com/other/thompson.html |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> His parents were introduced by a friend from Jack's fraternity at the [[University of Kentucky]] in September 1934, and married on November 2, 1935.<ref name="whitmer">{{Cite book |last=Whitmer |first=Peter O. |url=https://archive.org/details/whengoinggetswei00whit/page/23 |title=When The Going Gets Weird: The Twisted Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=[[Hyperion (publisher)|Hyperion]] |year=1993 |isbn=1-56282-856-8 |edition=First |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whengoinggetswei00whit/page/23 23–27]}}</ref> Journalist [[Nicholas Lezard]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' stated that Thompson's first name, Hunter, came from an ancestor on his mother's side, the Scottish surgeon [[John Hunter (surgeon)|John Hunter]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lezard |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Lezard |date=October 11, 1997 |title=An outlaw comes home |work=The Guardian}}</ref> A more direct attribution is that Thompson's first and middle name, Hunter Stockton, came from his maternal grandparents, Prestly Stockton Ray and Lucille Hunter.<ref name=mckeen>{{Cite book |last=McKeen |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke |title=Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson |date=July 13, 2009 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393249118 |language=en |quote=Prestly Stockton Ray. |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In December 1943, when Thompson was six years old, the family settled in the affluent [[Cherokee Triangle]] neighborhood of [[The Highlands (Louisville)|The Highlands]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eblen |first=Tom |title=For sale: Hunter S. Thompson's childhood home – bullet holes, Gates of Hell not included |url=http://tomeblen.bloginky.com/2008/05/07/for-sale-hunter-s-thompsons-childhood-home-bullet-holes-gates-of-hell-not-included-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325154431/http://tomeblen.bloginky.com/2008/05/07/for-sale-hunter-s-thompsons-childhood-home-bullet-holes-gates-of-hell-not-included-2/ |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=The Bluegrass and Beyond }}</ref> On July 3, 1952, when Thompson was 14, his father died of [[myasthenia gravis]] at age 58. Hunter and his brothers were raised by their mother. Virginia worked as a librarian to support her children and was described as a "heavy drinker" following her husband's death.<ref name="whitmer" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunter S Thompson Biography and Notes |title=Books by Hunter S. Thompson – biography and notes |url=http://www.biblio.com/hunter-s-thompson~142810~author |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824053734/http://www.biblio.com/hunter-s-thompson~142810~author |archive-date=August 24, 2013 |access-date=July 30, 2010 |publisher=Biblio.com}}</ref>

===Education===
[[File:Hunter S. Thompson (high school senior portrait).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|alt=Oval-shaped photo portrait of a young man with short hair wearing a suit|Thompson's high-school senior portrait]]
Interested in sports and athletically inclined from a young age, Thompson co-founded the Hawks Athletic Club while attending [[Public schools in Louisville, Kentucky#Elementary Schools|I.N. Bloom Elementary School]],<ref name="HawksClub">{{Cite book |last=William McKeen |url=https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke/page/9 |title=Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=W.&nbsp;W. Norton & Company |year=2008 |isbn=978-0393061925 |page=[https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke/page/9 9] |author-link=William McKeen}}</ref> which led to an invitation to join Louisville's Castlewood Athletic Club<ref name="HawksClub" /> for adolescents that prepared them for high-school sports. Ultimately, he never joined a sports team in high school.<ref name="whitmer" /> He grew up in the same neighborhood as mystery novelist [[Sue Grafton]], who was a few years behind him in school.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://carnegiecenterlex.org/kwhf-2019-sue-grafton/|title=Sue Grafton|website=carnegiecenterlex.org|access-date=September 14, 2024|archive-date=April 19, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419222810/https://carnegiecenterlex.org/kwhf-2019-sue-grafton/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Thompson attended I.N. Bloom Elementary School,<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKeen |url=https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke |title=Outlaw Journalist |publisher=Norton |year=2008 |isbn=9780393061925 |page=[https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke/page/5 5] |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[Highland Middle School (Louisville, Kentucky)|Highland Middle School]], and [[Atherton High School (Kentucky)|Atherton High School]], before transferring to [[Louisville Male High School]] in fall 1952.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wenner |first1=Jann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EVYFEDvsiYC |title=Gonzo: The Life Of Hunter S. Thompson |last2=Seymour |first2=Corey |date=September 4, 2008 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-0-7481-0849-7 |access-date=October 2, 2020 |archive-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127090909/https://books.google.com/books?id=8EVYFEDvsiYC |url-status=live }} Chapter 1, section by Lou Ann Iler.</ref> Also in 1952, he was accepted as a member of the Athenaeum [[Literary society|Literary Association]], a school-sponsored literary and social club that dated to 1862. Its members at the time came from Louisville's [[American upper class|upper-class]] families, and included [[Porter Bibb]], who later became the first publisher of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' at Thompson's behest. During this time, Thompson read and admired [[J.&nbsp;P. Donleavy]]'s ''[[The Ginger Man]]''.<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite news |last=Homberger |first=Eric |date=February 22, 2005 |title=Obituary: Hunter S. Thompson: Colourful chronicler of American life whose 'gonzo' journalism contrived to put him always at the centre of the action |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/22/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries |url-status=live |access-date=December 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130181305/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/22/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries |archive-date=November 30, 2016}}</ref>

As an Athenaeum member, Thompson contributed articles to and helped produce the club's [[yearbook]] ''The Spectator'' until the group ejected Thompson in 1955 for criminal activity.<ref name="whitmer" /> Charged as an [[Accessory (legal term)|accessory]] to robbery after being in a car with the perpetrator, Thompson was sentenced to 60 days in Kentucky's [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson County]] Jail. He served 31 days and, during his incarceration, was refused permission to take final exams, preventing his graduation.<ref name=Guardian /> He enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] upon release.<ref name="whitmer" />

===Military service===
[[File:Hunter S. Thompson (Air Force service photo).jpg|alt=Airman second class Hunter S. Thompson at his desk in 1957 as sports editor of the Command Courier, a military publication serving the Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle.|thumb|Thompson in 1957 as sports editor of the ''Courier Commander'', an Air Force newsletter]]
Thompson completed [[basic training]] at [[Lackland Air Force Base]] in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]] and transferred to [[Scott Air Force Base]] in [[Belleville, Illinois|Belleville]], [[Illinois]] to study [[electronics]]. He applied to become an aviator, but the Air Force's [[Military aviation|aviation]]-[[cadet]] program rejected his application. In 1956, he transferred to [[Eglin Air Force Base]] near [[Fort Walton Beach]], [[Florida]]. While serving at Eglin, he took evening classes at [[Florida State University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thompson, Hunter S. |url=http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-03546.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507121617/http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-03546.html |archive-date=May 7, 2017 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=American National Biography Online}}</ref> At Eglin, he landed his first professional writing job as [[Sports Journalism|sports editor]] of ''The Command Courier'' by lying about his job experience. As sports editor, Thompson traveled around the United States with the Eglin Eagles [[American football|football]] team, covering its games. In early 1957, he wrote a sports column for ''[[Northwest Florida Daily News|The Playground News]]'', a local newspaper in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. His name did not appear on the column because Air Force regulations forbade outside employment.<ref name="whitmer" />

In 1958, while he was an [[airman first class]], his commanding officer recommended him for an early [[honorable discharge]]. "In summary, this airman, although talented, will not be guided by policy," chief of information services [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] William S. Evans wrote to the Eglin personnel office. "Sometimes his rebel and superior attitude seems to rub off on other airmen staff members."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perry |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHmc5IJaeC0C&pg=PA28 |title=Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-56025-605-2 |edition=2 |page=28}}</ref>

===Early journalism career===
After leaving the Air Force, Thompson worked as sports editor for a newspaper in [[Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania|Jersey Shore]], [[Pennsylvania]],<ref name="songsdoomed">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |title=Songs of the Doomed |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=2002 |isbn=0-7432-4099-5 |edition=Reprint |pages=29–32}}</ref> before relocating to [[New York City]]. There he audited several courses at the [[Columbia University School of General Studies]].<ref name="www.aspentimes.com-2016">{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Columbia University scholarship for veterans to be named for Hunter S. Thompson, says wife |url=https://www.aspentimes.com/entertainment/activities-events/columbia-university-scholarship-for-veterans-to-be-named-for-hunter-s-thompson-says-wife/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622040637/https://www.aspentimes.com/entertainment/activities-events/columbia-university-scholarship-for-veterans-to-be-named-for-hunter-s-thompson-says-wife/ |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=aspentimes.com |date=July 18, 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref> During this time he worked briefly for [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] as a [[copy boy]] for $51 a week. At work, he typed out parts of [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' and [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[A Farewell to Arms]]'' in order to learn the authors' rhythms and writing styles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-9934099-8-1 |location=Scotland |page=11 |language=English}}</ref> In 1959, ''Time'' fired him for [[insubordination]].<ref name="proudway">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |title=The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |year=1998 |isbn=0-345-37796-6 |editor-last=Douglas Brinkley |edition=1st |page=139}}</ref> Later that year, he worked as a reporter for [[Times Herald-Record|''The Middletown Daily Record'']] in [[Middletown, Orange County, New York|Middletown]], [[New York (state)|New York]]. He was fired from this job after damaging an office [[candy machine]] and arguing with the owner of a local restaurant who happened to be an advertiser with the paper.<ref name="proudway" />

[[File:Hunter S. Thompson (self-portrait photograph - Hell's Angels author photo).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|alt=Photograph showing just the head of a man with a serious expression, aviator sunglasses, a full head of medium-short hair, and a visible collar of a leather jacket|Self-portrait photo of Thompson {{circa}}{{nbsp}}1960–1967]]

In 1960, Thompson moved to [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]], to take a job with the sporting magazine ''El Sportivo'', which ceased operations soon after his arrival. Thompson applied for a job with the Puerto Rican English-language daily ''[[The San Juan Star]]'', but its managing editor, future novelist [[William Kennedy (author)|William J. Kennedy]], turned him down. Nonetheless, the two became friends. After the demise of ''El Sportivo'', Thompson worked as a [[stringer (journalism)|stringer]] for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' and a few other stateside papers on Caribbean issues, with Kennedy working as his editor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 7, 1997 |title=Hunter S. Thompson: 'Proud Highway' (audio) |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1038689 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215417/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1038689 |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=William Kennedy Biography |url=http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/wjkennedybio.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208091741/http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/wjkennedybio.html |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>

After returning to mainland United States in 1961, Thompson visited San Francisco and eventually lived in [[Big Sur]], where he spent eight months as security guard and [[property caretaker|caretaker]] at [[Slates Hot Springs]], just before it became the [[Esalen Institute]]. At the time, Big Sur was a Beat outpost and home of [[Henry Miller]] and the screenwriter [[Dennis Murphy (screenwriter)|Dennis Murphy]], both of whom Thompson admired. During this period, he published his first magazine feature in [[Rogue (magazine)|''Rogue'']] about the [[artisan]] and [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] culture of Big Sur and worked on [[The Rum Diary (novel)|''The Rum Diary'']]. He managed to publish one short story, "Burial at Sea," which also appeared in ''Rogue''. It was his first piece of published fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2021 |isbn=978-0993409981 |location=Edinburgh |pages=90}}</ref> ''The Rum Diary'', based on Thompson's experiences in Puerto Rico, was finally published in {{Not a typo|1998}} and in 2011 was [[The Rum Diary (film)|adapted as a motion picture]]. [[Paul Perry (author)|Paul Perry]] notes that Thompson exhibited extreme homophobia while at Big Sur, making violent threats to expel gay bathers from local hot springs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perry |first=Paul |title=Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |year=1992 |isbn=1-56025-065-8 |edition=First Trade Paperback Printing 1993 |pages=59–61}}</ref>

In May 1962, Thompson traveled to South America for a year as a correspondent for the [[Dow Jones & Company|Dow Jones]]-owned weekly paper, the [[National Observer (USA)|''National Observer'']].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kevin |first=Brian |title=Before Gonzo: Hunter S. Thompson's Early, Underrated Journalism Career |language=en-US |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/hunter-s-thompsons-pre-gonzo-journalism-surprisingly-earnest/361355/ |url-status=live |access-date=October 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006212055/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/hunter-s-thompsons-pre-gonzo-journalism-surprisingly-earnest/361355/ |archive-date=October 6, 2017}}</ref> In Brazil, he spent several months as a reporter for the [[Rio de Janeiro]]-based ''Brazil Herald'', the country's only English-language [[Newspaper#Types|daily]]. His longtime girlfriend Sandra Dawn Conklin (subsequently Sondi Wright) joined him in Rio. They married on May 19, 1963, shortly after returning to the United States, and lived briefly in [[Aspen, Colorado]]. Sandy was eight months pregnant when they relocated to [[Glen Ellen, California]]. Their son, Juan Fitzgerald Thompson, was born in March 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178251/stories-i-tell-myself-by-juan-thompson/ |title=Author Bio for Stories I Tell Myself |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Penguin Random House |access-date=April 12, 2023 |quote=JUAN F. THOMPSON was born in 1964 outside of San Francisco, California, and grew up in Woody Creek, Colorado. |archive-date=April 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412162428/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178251/stories-i-tell-myself-by-juan-thompson/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=mckeen /> During the summer of that same year, Hunter began taking [[Dexedrine]], which is what he would predominantly use for writing up until around 1974 when he began to write mostly under the influence of [[cocaine]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/ode-to-the-letters-of-hunter-s-thompson/600808/|title=Hunter S. Thompson's Letters to His Enemies|first=James|last=Parker|date=November 10, 2019|website=The Atlantic|access-date=April 6, 2023|archive-date=April 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406051926/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/ode-to-the-letters-of-hunter-s-thompson/600808/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Thompson continued to write for the ''National Observer'' on an array of domestic subjects during the early 60s. One story told of his 1964 visit to [[Ketchum, Idaho]], to investigate the reasons for [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s [[Ernest Hemingway#Idaho and suicide|suicide]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Brinkley |first=Douglas |date=March 10, 2005 |title=The Final Days at Owl Farm |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7092353/the_final_days_at_owl_farm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018060554/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7092353/the_final_days_at_owl_farm |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> While there, he stole a pair of [[elk]] antlers hanging above the front door of Hemingway's cabin. Later that year, Thompson moved to San Francisco, where he attended the 1964 GOP Convention at the [[Cow Palace]]. Thompson severed his ties with the ''Observer'' after his editor refused to print his review of [[Tom Wolfe]]'s 1965 essay-collection ''[[The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby]]''.<ref>Brinkley, Douglas or Sadler, Shelby. {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |url=https://archive.org/details/fearloathinginam00thom |title=Fear and Loathing in America |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2000 |isbn=0-684-87315-X |editor-last=Douglas Brinkley |edition=1st |page=784 |url-access=registration}} Introduction to letter to Tom Wolfe, p. 43.</ref> He later immersed himself in the [[drug culture|drug]] and [[hippie]] culture [[History of San Francisco#"Summer of Love" and counterculture movement|taking root in the area]], and soon began writing for the [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] [[underground paper]] ''Spider''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Louison |first=Cole |title=This is skag folks, pure skag: Hunter Thompson |url=http://www.ithaca.edu/buzzsaw/archive_skag.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903032602/http://www.ithaca.edu/buzzsaw/archive_skag.htm |archive-date=September 3, 2006 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=Buzzsaw Haircut |publisher=Ithaca.edu}}</ref>

===''Hell's Angels''===
{{See also|Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs}}

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| alt2 = Photo of a gray three-story townhouse with red-tiled roofs on a sloped street
| caption2 = {{resize |318 Parnassus Ave.}}
| footer = While he wrote ''Hell's Angels'', Thompson resided in a house near San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood.<ref name="TheBatterySF2018">{{Cite web |last=Joseph |first=Jennifer |date=December 22, 2018 |title=The Haight-Ashbury's History and Heyday: How the 'Ground Zero of Hippiedom' Happened |url=https://www.thebatterysf.com/article/the-haight-ashbury |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013012/https://www.thebatterysf.com/article/the-haight-ashbury |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |access-date=August 15, 2020 |website=The Battery}}</ref>}}

In 1965, [[Carey McWilliams (journalist)|Carey McWilliams]], editor of ''[[The Nation]]'', hired Thompson to write a story about the Hells Angels <!-- no apostrophe in gang's actual name, though most media overcorrect by adding one -->[[Outlaw motorcycle club|motorcycle club]] in [[California]]. At the time, Thompson was living in a house near San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood, where the Hells Angels lived across from the [[Grateful Dead]].<ref name="TheBatterySF2018" /> His article appeared on May 17, 1965, after which he received several book offers and spent the next year living and riding with the club. The relationship broke down when the bikers perceived that Thompson was exploiting them for personal gain and demanded a share of his profits. An argument at a party resulted in Thompson suffering a savage beating (or "stomping", as the Angels referred to it) when Thompson intervened to protect a dog and a woman from physical abuse by a punk.<ref>{{Cite web |title=On the Wild Side |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/thompson-angels.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121828/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/thompson-angels.html |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2017 |title=The Night Hunter S. Thompson Got Stomped by Hells Angels |url=https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-night-hunter-s-thompson-got-stomped-by-hells-angels/74874/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121836/https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-night-hunter-s-thompson-got-stomped-by-hells-angels/74874/ |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=OZY}}</ref> [[Random House]] published the hard cover ''[[Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs]]'' in 1966, and the fight between Thompson and the Angels was well-marketed. [[CBC Television]] even broadcast an encounter between Thompson and Hells Angel Skip Workman before a live studio audience.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RetroBites: Hunter S. Thompson & Hell's Angels (1967) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/ccyu44rsaZo |archive-date=October 29, 2021 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=Youtube | date=July 7, 2010 |publisher=CBC}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

A ''[[New York Times]]'' review praised the work as an "angry, knowledgeable, fascinating, and excitedly written book", that shows the Hells Angels "not so much as dropouts from society but as total misfits, or unfits—emotionally, intellectually and educationally unfit to achieve the rewards, such as they are, that the contemporary [[social order]] offers". The reviewer also praised Thompson as a "spirited, witty, observant, and original writer; his [[prose]] crackles like motorcycle exhaust".<ref name="nytimes">Fremont-Smith, Eliot (February 23, 1967), "Books of The Times; Motorcycle Misfits—Fiction and Fact." ''The New York Times'', p. 33.</ref>

==Late 1960s==
Following the success of ''Hell's Angels'', Thompson sold stories to several national magazines, including ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'', ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', ''[[Pageant (magazine)|Pageant]]'', and ''[[Harper's]]''.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hunter S. Thompson {{!}} American journalist |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hunter-S-Thompson#ref837474 |access-date=October 6, 2017 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006213351/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hunter-S-Thompson#ref837474 |archive-date=October 6, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1967, shortly before the [[Summer of Love]], Thompson wrote "The 'Hashbury' is the Capital of the Hippies" for ''The New York Times Magazine''. He criticized [[San Francisco]]'s [[Hippie movement|hippies]] as devoid of both the political convictions of the [[New Left]] and the artistic core of the [[beat generation|Beats]], resulting in a culture overrun with young people who spent their time in the pursuit of [[Psychedelic drug|drugs]]. "The thrust is no longer for 'change' or 'progress' or 'revolution', but merely to escape, to live on the far perimeter of a world that might have been – perhaps should have been – and strike a bargain for survival on purely personal terms," he wrote.<ref name="hashbury">{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |date=May 14, 1967 |title=The Hashbury is the Capital of the Hippies |page=29 |work=The New York Times Magazine}}</ref>

Later that year, Thompson and his family moved back to Colorado and rented a house in [[Woody Creek]], a small mountain hamlet outside [[Aspen, Colorado|Aspen]]. In early 1969, Thompson received a $15,000 royalty check for the paperback sales of ''Hell's Angels'' and used a portion of the proceeds on a [[down payment]] on a home and property where he would live for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |title=Fear and Loathing in America |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-684-87316-9 |edition=Paperback |page=784}}</ref> It was a 110-acre piece of land that cost him $75,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perry |first=Paul |title=Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=Plexus |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-85965-429-6 |location=London |pages=115}}</ref> He named the house Owl Farm and often described it as his "fortified compound".

In early 1968, Thompson signed the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest", ''New York Post'', January 30, 1968.</ref> According to Thompson's letters from the period, he planned to write a book called ''The Joint Chiefs'' about "the death of the [[American Dream]]." He used a $6,000 advance from Random House to travel the country covering the [[1968 United States presidential election]] and attend the [[1968 Democratic Convention|Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]] for research. He watched the clashes between police and anti-war protesters from his hotel, and later claimed that events had a significant effect on his political views, saying "I went to the Democratic convention as a journalist and returned a raving beast."<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKeen |first=William |title=Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2008 |isbn=9780393061925 |location=New York |pages=125}}</ref> While Thompson never completed the book, he carried its theme into later work. He also signed a deal with [[Ballantine Books]] in 1968 to write a satirical book called ''The Johnson File'' about President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. A few weeks later, the deal fell through after Johnson withdrew from the election.<ref name="Thompson 2001 784">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |title=Fear and Loathing in America |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-684-87316-9 |edition=2nd |page=784}}</ref>

Thompson was impressed by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's coverage of the disastrous Altamont Free Concert in December 1969. After writing to ''Rolling Stone'''s editor, Jann Wenner, Thompson accepted an invitation to submit his work to the magazine, which soon became his primary outlet.<ref>''Peter Richardson, Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022. ISBN 9780520304925</ref>

==Middle years==
===Aspen sheriff campaign===

{{See also|The Battle of Aspen}}
{{stack|[[File:Thompson for 1970 Aspen, Colorado Sheriff poster.jpg|thumb|upright=0.82|alt=Poster with a symbol of a red two-thumbed fist holding a peyote button superimposed on a six-pointed star-shaped sheriff's badge|"Thompson for 1970 Aspen, Colorado Sheriff" poster by [[Thomas W. Benton]]]]}}
{{stack|[[File:Thompson & Whitmire at the sheriff's debate (1970-10-12).jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph; see caption|Thompson (''right'') at a debate with Sheriff Carrol D. Whitmire (''left''), his incumbent opponent.]]}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1970 Pitkin County Sheriff election
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| image_size = 125x136px
| image1 = 
| nominee1 = '''Carrol D. Whitmire'''
| party1 = Democratic Party (US)
| popular_vote1 = '''1,533 '''
| percentage1 = '''55.36%'''
| image2 = 
| nominee2 = Hunter S. Thompson
| party2 = Independent
| popular_vote2 = 1,065
| percentage2 = 38.46%
| title = Sheriff
| before_election = Carrol D. Whitmire
| before_party = Democratic Party (US)
| after_election = Carrol D. Whitmire
| after_party = Democratic Party (US)
}}

In 1970, Thompson ran for [[Sheriffs in the United States|sheriff]] of [[Pitkin County, Colorado]], as part of a group of citizens running for local offices on the [[The Battle of Aspen|"Freak Power"]] ticket. The platform included promoting the [[decriminalization of drugs]] (for personal use only, not trafficking, as he disapproved of [[profiteering]]), tearing up the streets and turning them into grassy [[pedestrian mall]]s, banning any building so tall as to obscure the view of the mountains, disarming all police forces, and renaming Aspen "Fat City" to deter investors. Thompson, having shaved his head, referred to the [[crew cut]]-wearing [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate as "my [[hippy|long-haired]] opponent".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Gilbert |first=Sophie |date=June 26, 2014 |title=When Hunter S. Thompson Ran for Sheriff of Aspen |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/when-hunter-s-thompson-ran-for-sheriff-of-aspen/372949/ |url-status=live |magazine=The Atlantic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326141632/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/when-hunter-s-thompson-ran-for-sheriff-of-aspen/372949/ |archive-date=March 26, 2018 |access-date=March 25, 2018}}</ref>

With polls showing him with a slight lead in a three-way race, Thompson appeared at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine headquarters in San Francisco with a six-pack of beer in hand, and declared to editor [[Jann Wenner]] that he was about to be elected sheriff of Aspen, Colorado, and wished to write about the "Freak Power" movement.<ref name="interviews1976">{{Citation |last=Anson |first=Robert Sam |title=Rolling Stone, Part 2; Hunter Thompson Meets Fear and Loathing Face to Face |date=December 10, 1970 |work=[[New Times (magazine)|New Times]]}}</ref> "[[The Battle of Aspen]]" was Thompson's first feature for the magazine carrying the byline "By: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (Candidate for Sheriff)". (Thompson's "Dr" certification was obtained from a mail-order church while he was in San Francisco in the sixties.) Despite the publicity, Thompson lost the election. While carrying the city of Aspen, he garnered only 44% of the county-wide vote in what had become, after the withdrawal of the Republican candidate, a two-way race. Thompson later said that the ''Rolling Stone'' article mobilized more opposition to the Freak Power ticket than supporters.<ref>Hunter S. Thompson (2003), ''[[Kingdom of Fear (book)|Kingdom of Fear]]'', Simon & Schuster, p. 95.</ref> The episode was the subject of the 2020 documentary film ''[[Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb]].'' Writing of the episode more than fifty years later, Wenner wrote "Aspen didn't get a new sheriff, but I realized that, in Hunter, I had a fellow traveller."<ref name=wennerbook />

===Birth of Gonzo===
{{Main|Gonzo journalism}}
Also in 1970, Thompson wrote an article entitled "[[The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved]]" for the short-lived [[new journalism]] magazine ''[[Scanlan's Monthly]]''. For that article, editor [[Warren Hinckle]] paired Thompson with illustrator [[Ralph Steadman]], who drew [[expressionist]] illustrations with lipstick and eyeliner. Thompson's story virtually ignored the race and focused instead on the drunken revelry surrounding the annual event in his hometown. Writing in the first person, he sets the debauchery against the backdrop of the American political scene of the moment: President [[Richard Nixon]] had ordered bombing of [[Cambodia]] and four students had been killed by [[Ohio National Guard]] troops at [[Kent State University]], in a [[Kent State shootings|massacre]] which occurred only two days later.

Thompson and Steadman collaborated regularly after that. Although it was not widely read, the article was the first to use the techniques of [[Gonzo journalism]], a style Thompson later employed in almost every literary endeavor. The manic [[First-person narrative|first-person]] subjectivity of the story was reportedly the result of sheer desperation; he was facing a looming deadline and started sending the magazine pages ripped out of his notebook.

The first use of the word "Gonzo" to describe Thompson's work is credited to the journalist [[Bill Cardoso]], who first met Thompson on a bus full of journalists covering the [[New Hampshire primary#1968|1968 New Hampshire primary]]. In 1970, Cardoso (who was then the editor of ''[[The Boston Globe]] Sunday Magazine'') wrote to Thompson praising the "Kentucky Derby" piece as a breakthrough: "This is it, this is pure Gonzo. If this is a start, keep rolling." According to Steadman, Thompson took to the word right away and said, "Okay, that's what I do. Gonzo."<ref name="cardoso-obit">{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=March 16, 2006 |title=Bill Cardoso, 68, Editor Who Coined 'Gonzo', Is Dead |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/national/16cardoso.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523023233/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/national/16cardoso.html?_r=1&ei=5088&en=c7b5fe5f62a5d95e&ex=1300165200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print |archive-date=May 23, 2013}}</ref> Thompson's first published use of the word appears in ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'': "Free Enterprise. The [[American Dream]]. [[Horatio Alger]] gone mad on drugs in [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]]. Do it ''now'': pure Gonzo journalism."

===''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''===
{{Main|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas}}
[[File:Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Zeta Acosta, Las Vegas 1971.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Photograph of two men seated at a table with drinks|Thompson's 1971 trip to Las Vegas with [[Oscar Zeta Acosta]] (''right'') served as the basis for his most famous novel, ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''.]]

The book for which Thompson gained most of his fame began during the research for "[[Strange Rumblings in Aztlan]]," an exposé for ''Rolling Stone'' on the 1970 killing of the [[Mexican American]] television journalist [[Rubén Salazar]]. Salazar had been shot in the head at close range with a tear-gas canister fired by officers of the [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department]] during the [[National Chicano Moratorium March]] against the Vietnam War. One of Thompson's sources for the story was [[Oscar Zeta Acosta]], a prominent Mexican American activist and attorney. Finding it difficult to talk in the racially tense atmosphere of Los Angeles, Thompson and Acosta decided to travel to [[Las Vegas]], and take advantage of an assignment by ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' to write a 250-word photograph caption on the [[Mint 400]] motorcycle race held there.

What was to be a short caption quickly grew into something else entirely. Thompson first submitted to ''Sports Illustrated'' a manuscript of 2,500 words, which was, as he later wrote, "aggressively rejected." ''Rolling Stone'' publisher [[Jann Wenner]] liked "the first 20 or so jangled pages enough to take it seriously on its own terms and tentatively scheduled it for publication&nbsp;— which gave me the push I needed to keep working on it", Thompson wrote.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter |title=The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time |publisher=[[Summit Books]] |year=1979 |isbn=0-671-40046-0 |edition=1st |pages=105–109}}</ref> Wenner, describing his first impression of it years later, called it "Sharp and insane."<ref name=wennerbook>{{Cite book |last=Wenner |first=Jan |title=Like A Rolling Stone: A Memoir |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=2022 |isbn=9780316415194 |edition=1st}}</ref>

To develop the story, Thompson and Acosta returned to Las Vegas to attend a drug enforcement conference. The two trips became the basis for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," which [[Rolling Stone]] serialized in two parts in November 1971. Random House published a book version the following year. It is written as a first-person account by a journalist named [[Raoul Duke]] with [[Oscar Zeta Acosta|Dr. Gonzo]], his "300-pound [[Samoans|Samoan]] attorney." During the trip, Duke and his companion (always referred to as "my attorney") become sidetracked by a search for the American Dream, with "two bags of [[cannabis (drug)|grass]], 75 pellets of [[mescaline]], five sheets of high-powered [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|blotter acid]], a salt shaker half full of [[cocaine]], and a whole galaxy of multicolored [[Amphetamine|uppers]], [[Barbiturates|downers]], [[Methamphetamine|screamers]], [[Nitrous Oxide|laughers]]&nbsp;... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw [[Diethyl ether|ether]], and two dozen [[amyls]]."

Coming to terms with the failure of the 1960s [[counterculture|countercultural movement]] is a major theme of the novel, and the book was greeted with considerable critical acclaim. ''The New York Times'' praised it as "the best book yet written on the decade of dope".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Woods |first=Crawford |date=July 23, 1972 |title=Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/23/books/thompson-1972-vegar.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403105014/http://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/23/books/thompson-1972-vegar.html |archive-date=April 3, 2013}}</ref> "The Vegas Book", as Thompson referred to it, was a mainstream success and introduced his Gonzo journalism techniques to a wide public.

===''Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72''===
{{Main|Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72}}

[[File:Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1973 1st ed jacket cover).jpg|left|upright|thumb|''Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72'' (1973)]]

In 1971 Wenner agreed to assign Thompson to cover the [[1972 United States presidential election]] for ''Rolling Stone.'' Thompson was paid a retainer of $1,000 per month ({{Inflation|US|1000|1971|fmt=eq}}) and rented a house near [[Rock Creek Park]] in [[Washington D.C.]] at the magazine's expense. He was also given a deal to publish a book on the campaign after its conclusion, which subsequently appeared as ''[[Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72]]'' in early 1973. Insider books on presidential politics had become popular during the prior decade starting with [[Theodore H. White]]'s ''Making of the President'' series, the first of which appeared in 1961, with additional volumes in 1965 and 1969. Their success raised the overall profile of journalists assigned to cover the quadrennial presidential election in the U.S., and it became a common phrase among them to say they were "...Doing a Teddy White," meaning they planned to write their own insider book on the campaign.<ref name=mckeen />

Wenner had decided that ''Rolling Stone'' would cover the presidential election in part because of the passage in 1971 of the [[Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|26th Amendment]] to the [[Constitution of the United States]] which lowered the legal [[voting age]] from 21 to 18, making a large part of its mostly young readership suddenly eligible to vote. "We intended to politicize our generation and wrest this stirring force away from the fake politics of the revolutionary," Wenner wrote in his memoirs of the plan to collaborate with Thompson.<ref name=wennerbook />

[[File:McGovern Thompson 1972.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of two seated men having a conversation in a crowded busy room; the man on the left is giving "the finger" to the camera|Thompson with [[George McGovern]] (''right'') in San Francisco, June 1972]]

Thompson's first campaign piece for ''Rolling Stone'' appeared as ''Fear and Loathing in Washington: Is This Trip Really Necessary?'' in the January 6, 1972, issue. The 14th and final installment appeared in the November 9 issue under the headline ''Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls....''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8jh3svh/entire_text/ |title=Guide to the Eric C. Shoaf Collection on Hunter S. Thompson |author=Kate Dundon |date=2019 |website=Online Archive of California |publisher=University of California, Santa Cruz |access-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413201431/https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8jh3svh/entire_text/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Throughout the year, Thompson traveled with candidates running in the [[1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries]] for the right to challenge the incumbent president, Republican [[Richard Nixon]] in the general election. Thompson's coverage focused mainly on Sen. George McGovern of [[South Dakota]], Sen. [[Edmund Muskie]] of [[Maine]], the early leader, and former vice-president [[Hubert Humphrey]]. Thompson supported McGovern and wrote critical coverage of the rival campaigns.

In the April 13 installment entitled ''Fear and Loathing: The Banshee Screams in Florida,'' Thompson relates how someone having apparently lifted his press credential, terrorized Muskie and his staff on a campaign train. The incident was later revealed to be an elaborate prank. In another installment, Thompson relates rumors — rumors he later admitted he had originated — that Muskie had become addicted to the psychoactive drug [[Ibogaine]]. The story damaged Muskie's reputation and played a role in his loss of the nomination to McGovern. In another, he tracked down McGovern in a restroom in order to get a reaction quote after a senator from Iowa had switched his endorsement from McGovern to Muskie.

The series, and later, the book were both praised for breaking boundaries with a new approach to political journalism. The literary critic Morris Dickstein, wrote that Thompson had learned to "approximate the effect of mind-blasting drugs in his prose style," and that he "recorded the nuts and bolts of a presidential campaign with all the contempt and incredulity that other reporters must feel but censor out."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickstein |first=Morris |author-link=Morris Dickstein |date=1977 |title=Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties |url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780871404329 |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0465026319 |access-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-date=October 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015213719/https://wwnorton.com/books/9780871404329 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Frank Mankiewicz]], McGovern's campaign director, often described it as the "most accurate and least factual" account of the 1972 campaign. In one vivid, yet invented anecdote, Thompson describes how Mankiewicz had leapt out from behind a bush to attack him with a hammer. To an uninitiated reader, it might have been unclear at first if the action Thompson described was fanciful or factual, and that seemed to be part of the point. As biographer William McKeen wrote "He wrote for his own amusement, and if others came along for the ride, that was all right."<ref name=mckeen />

==Fame and its consequences==
Thompson's journalistic work began to seriously suffer after his trip to Africa to cover [[the Rumble in the Jungle]]—the world heavyweight boxing match between [[George Foreman]] and [[Muhammad Ali]]—in 1974. He missed the match while intoxicated at his hotel and did not submit a story to the magazine. As Wenner put it to the film critic [[Roger Ebert]] in the 2008 documentary ''Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson'', "After Africa, he just couldn't write. He couldn't piece it together".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gonzo-the-life-and-work-of-dr-hunter-s-thompson-2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407101733/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gonzo-the-life-and-work-of-dr-hunter-s-thompson-2008 |archive-date=April 7, 2014 |access-date=April 4, 2014}}</ref> It was in 1973 that Thompson tried cocaine for the first time and various friends, family members, and editors remarked that its impact upon his productivity and creativity was devastating.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2021 |isbn=978-0993409981 |location=Edinburgh |pages=337–339}}</ref>

In 1975, Wenner assigned Thompson to travel to [[Vietnam]] to cover what appeared to be the end of the [[Vietnam War]]. Thompson arrived in [[Saigon]] just as [[Fall of Saigon|South Vietnam was collapsing]] and as other journalists were leaving the country. Wenner allegedly canceled Thompson's medical insurance, which strained Thompson's relationship with ''Rolling Stone.''<ref name="Wills-2022">{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-9934099-8-1 |location=Scotland |page=359 |language=English}}</ref> He soon fled the country and refused to file his report until the ten-year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.<ref name="Wills-2022" /> Wenner, writing in 2022, denied the claims that he cancelled Thompson's insurance, saying that Thompson spent most of his time in Saigon obsessing over evacuation plans. Thompson filed an unfinished dispatch that Wenner described "strong and promising, but nothing substantial." He then took a commercial flight to [[Bangkok]] where he met his wife for what Wenner described as a few weeks of "totally undeserved rest and recreation." While in Thailand, Thompson had a custom brass door plaque made that read "Rolling Stone: Global Affairs Suite. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" marked with a map of the world and two lightning bolts. "That was it," Wenner wrote. "No story. Just that plaque."<ref name=wennerbook /> Thompson later finished the story in time for the 10-year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.<ref name="Wills-2022" />

Plans for Thompson to cover the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential campaign]] for ''Rolling Stone'' and later publish a book fell through as Wenner dissolved [[Straight Arrow Press]]' book publishing division. Thompson claimed Wenner canceled the project without informing him.<ref name="interviews1976" /> In his memoirs, Wenner told a different story: "The issue wasn't money ... The real issue was whether he had the discipline to spend so much time on the campaign trail and whether he had that much to say about the same subject again." Thompson went on to spend a day with [[Jimmy Carter]] at the [[Georgia Governor's Mansion]] and write a 10,000-word cover story endorsing Carter for president. "After that, we were virtually an official part of the Carter campaign, and they treated us as such," Wenner wrote of the episode.<ref name=wennerbook />

From the late 1970s on, most of Thompson's literary output appeared as a four-volume series of books entitled ''[[The Gonzo Papers]]''. Beginning with ''The Great Shark Hunt'' in 1979 and ending with ''[[Better Than Sex (book)|Better Than Sex]]'' in 1994, the series is largely a collection of rare newspaper and magazine pieces from the pre-Gonzo period, along with almost all of his ''Rolling Stone'' pieces.

Starting around 1980, Thompson became less active by his standards. Aside from paid appearances, he largely retreated to his compound in Woody Creek, rejecting projects and assignments or failing to complete them. Despite a lack of new material, Wenner kept Thompson on the ''Rolling Stone'' [[Masthead (American publishing)|masthead]] as chief of the "National Affairs Desk", a position he held until his death.

In 1980, Thompson divorced his wife, Sandra Conklin. The same year marked the release of ''[[Where the Buffalo Roam]]'', a loose film adaptation based on Thompson's early 1970s work, starring [[Bill Murray]] as the writer. Murray eventually became one of Thompson's trusted friends. Later that year, Thompson relocated to Hawaii to research and write ''[[The Curse of Lono]]'', a Gonzo-style account of the 1980 [[Honolulu Marathon]]. Extensively illustrated by [[Ralph Steadman]], an iteration of the work first appeared in ''Running'' in 1981 as "The Charge of the Weird Brigade" and was later excerpted in ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1983.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.gonzo.org/books/cl/ |title=The Great Thompson Hunt&nbsp;— Books&nbsp;— The Curse of Lono |publisher=Gonzo.org |access-date=July 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604013655/http://www.gonzo.org/books/cl/ |archive-date=June 4, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> The book was a disappointment, with its editor calling it "disorganized and incoherent."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitmer |first=Peter O. |title=When the Going Gets Weird |publisher=Hyperion |year=1993 |location=New York |pages=260}}</ref> It was poorly reviewed, and sales were disappointing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2021 |isbn=978-0993409981 |location=Edinburgh |pages=406}}</ref>

In 1983, he covered the [[U.S. invasion of Grenada]] but did not write or discuss the experiences until the publication of ''[[Kingdom of Fear (book)|Kingdom of Fear]]'' in 2003. Also in 1983, at the behest of [[Terry McDonell]], he wrote "A Dog Took My Place<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Thompson |first1=Hunter S. |date=1983-07-21 |title=Hunter S. Thompson: A Dog Took My Place |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/hunter-s-thompson-roxanne-pulitzer-divorce-90908/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |archive-date=December 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212194426/https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/hunter-s-thompson-roxanne-pulitzer-divorce-90908/ |url-status=live }}</ref>", an exposé for ''Rolling Stone'' of the scandalous [[Roxanne Pulitzer]] divorce case and what he called the "[[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] lifestyle". The story included dubious insinuations of [[bestiality]]. Wenner described it as one of Thompson's "least-known but best pieces."<ref name=wennerbook /> In 1985, Thompson accepted an advance to write about "feminist pornography" for ''Playboy''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David S. |title=High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism |publisher=Beatdom Books |year=2021 |isbn=978-0993409981 |location=Edinburgh |pages=417}}</ref> As part of his research, he spent evenings at the [[Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre]] [[striptease club]] in San Francisco. The experience evolved into an as-yet-unpublished novel tentatively entitled ''The Night Manager''.

[[File:Hst-by-rsexton-longbeach-5-1989-1.jpg|thumb|Thompson in May 1989|alt=Photo of Hunter S Thompson with sunglasses speaking into a microphone]]

Thompson next accepted a role as weekly media columnist and critic for ''[[The San Francisco Examiner]].'' The position was arranged by former editor and fellow ''Examiner'' columnist Warren Hinckle.<ref name="SFchronobit">{{Cite web |last=Schevitz |first=Terry |date=February 5, 2005 |title=HUNTER S. THOMPSON: 1937–2005 / Original gonzo journalist kills self at age 67 / 'Fear and Loathing' author, ex-columnist for S.F. Examiner dies of gunshot wound |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/HUNTER-S-THOMPSON-1937-2005-Original-gonzo-2728840.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025184252/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/HUNTER-S-THOMPSON-1937-2005-Original-gonzo-2728840.php |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |access-date=June 1, 2018 |website=The San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> As his editor at ''The Examiner'', David McCumber described, "One week it would be acid-soaked gibberish with a charm of its own. The next week it would be incisive political analysis of the highest order."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nybergh |first=Thomas |date=February 9, 2015 |title=Stuck in Bat Country: The roller coaster career of Hunter S. Thompson |url=https://www.whizzpast.com/stuck-bat-country-roller-coaster-career-hunter-s-thompson/ |access-date=September 23, 2023 |website=WhizzPast |language=en-US |archive-date=October 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009230711/https://www.whizzpast.com/stuck-bat-country-roller-coaster-career-hunter-s-thompson/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many of these columns were collected in ''[[Gonzo Papers, Vol. 2: Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80s]]'' (1988) and ''[[Gonzo Papers, Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream]]'' (1990), a collection of autobiographical reminiscences, articles, and previously unpublished material.

==Later years==
Thompson faced a [[sexual assault]] charge in March 1990 when former pornographic film director [[Gail Palmer]] claimed that after she denied his sexual advances while at his home, Thompson threw a drink at her and twisted her left breast.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morain |first1=Dan |title=Gonzo Time: Hunter Thompson, Facing Drug, Sexual Assault Charges, Claims He's the Victim of 'Witch Hunt' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-23-vw-239-story.html |access-date=May 31, 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=April 23, 1990 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531002319/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-23-vw-239-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was tried for five felonies and three misdemeanors owing to the assault charge and allegations of drug abuse after the police raided his home. The charges were dropped two months later.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDB153EF932A05756C0A966958260 Victory for Hunter Thompson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412224854/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDB153EF932A05756C0A966958260 |date=April 12, 2020 }}, ''The New York Times'', May 31, 1990</ref>

Throughout the early 1990s, Thompson claimed to be at work on a novel entitled ''[[Polo Is My Life]]''. It was briefly excerpted in ''Rolling Stone'' in 1994. Wenner described it as "Hunter's last big piece of feature writing," and described Thompson as abusive toward two editorial assistants assigned to him.<ref name=wennerbook /> Thompson himself described it in 1996 as "a sex book—you know, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It's about the manager of a sex theater who's forced to leave and flee to the mountains. He falls in love and gets in even more trouble than he was in the sex theater in San Francisco."<ref name="fargone">{{Cite web |last=T. |first=Marlene |title=Transcript of Hunter S. Thompson Interview |url=http://www.fargonebooks.com/hunter.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230000412/http://www.fargonebooks.com/hunter.html |archive-date=December 30, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=The Book Report}}</ref> The novel was slated to be released by Random House in 1999, and was even assigned {{ISBN|0-679-40694-8}}, but was never published.

Thompson continued to publish irregularly in ''Rolling Stone'', ultimately contributing 17 pieces to the magazine between 1984 and 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2009 |title=Rolling Stone |url=https://hstbooks.org/articles-by-hst/hst-rolling-stone/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916135224/https://hstbooks.org/articles-by-hst/hst-rolling-stone/ |archive-date=September 16, 2016 |access-date=August 11, 2016}}</ref> "Fear and Loathing in Elko," published in 1992, was a well-received fictional rallying cry against the nomination of [[Clarence Thomas]] to a seat on the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. "Trapped in Mr. Bill's Neighborhood" was a largely factual account of an interview with [[Bill Clinton]] at a [[Little Rock, Arkansas]], steakhouse. Rather than traveling the campaign trail as he had done in previous presidential elections, Thompson monitored the proceedings on cable television; ''Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie'', his account of the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential]] campaign, is composed of reactive faxes to ''Rolling Stone''. In 1994, the magazine published "He Was a Crook", a "scathing" obituary of Richard Nixon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Hunter S. |date=June 17, 1994 |title=He Was a Crook |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607195033/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ |archive-date=June 7, 2017 |access-date=March 7, 2017 |website=The Atlantic}}</ref>

In November 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' published Thompson's final magazine feature "The Fun-Hogs in the Passing Lane: Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004", a brief account of the 2004 presidential election in which he compared the outcome of the ''[[Bush v. Gore]]'' court case to the [[Reichstag fire]] and formally endorsed Senator [[John Kerry]], a longtime friend, for president.

===''Fear and Loathing'' redux===
In 1996, [[Modern Library]] reissued ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' along with "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan," "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," and "Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Two years later, the film ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' generated new interest in Thompson and his work, and a paperback edition was published as a tie-in. The same year, an early novel, ''The Rum Diary'', was published. Two volumes of collected letters also appeared during this time. 
 
Thompson's next, and penultimate, collection, ''[[Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century]]'', was widely publicized as Thompson's first memoir. Published in 2003, it combined new material (including reminiscences of the O'Farrell Theater), selected newspaper and digital clippings, and other older works.

Thompson finished his journalism career in the same way it had begun: writing about sports. From 2000 until his death in 2005, he wrote a weekly column for [[ESPN]].com's [[Page 2]] entitled "Hey, Rube." In 2004, [[Simon & Schuster]] collected some of the columns from the first few years and released them in mid-2004 as ''[[Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness]]''.

Thompson married assistant Anita Bejmuk on April 23, 2003.

==Death==
At 5:42&nbsp;pm on February 20, 2005, Thompson died from a [[suicide|self-inflicted]] gunshot wound to the head at Owl Farm, his "fortified compound" in Woody Creek, Colorado. His son Juan, daughter-in-law Jennifer, and grandson were visiting for the weekend. His wife Anita, who was at the Aspen Club, was on the phone with him as he cocked the gun. According to the ''Aspen Daily News'', Thompson asked her to come home to help him write his ESPN column, then set the receiver on the counter. Anita said she mistook the cocking of the gun for the sound of his typewriter keys and hung up as he fired. Will, his grandson, and Jennifer were in the next room when they heard the gunshot, but mistook the sound for a book falling and did not check on Thompson immediately. Juan Thompson found his father's body. According to the police report and Anita's cell phone records,<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2, 2005 |title=Combined Records Department—Law Incident Table |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/citizen-thompson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630135952/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/citizen-thompson |archive-date=June 30, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |publisher=The Smoking Gun}}</ref> he called the sheriff's office half an hour later, then walked outside and fired three shotgun blasts into the air to "mark the passing of his father." The police report stated that in Thompson's typewriter was a piece of paper with the date "Feb. 22 '05" and a single word, "counselor."<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 8, 2005 |title=Citizen Thompson&nbsp;— Police report of death scene reveals gonzo journalist's "rosebud" |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/citizen-thompson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010045123/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/citizen-thompson |archive-date=October 10, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2008 |publisher=[[The Smoking Gun]]}}</ref>

Years of alcohol and cocaine abuse contributed to his problem with depression. Thompson's inner circle told the press that he had been depressed and always found February a "gloomy" month, with football season over and the harsh Colorado winter weather. He was also upset over his advancing age and chronic medical problems, including a hip replacement; he would frequently mutter "This kid is getting old." ''Rolling Stone'' published what [[Douglas Brinkley]] described as a [[suicide note]] written by Thompson to his wife, titled "Football Season Is Over." It read:

{{blockquote|No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun—for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax&nbsp;— This won't hurt.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Douglas Brinkley |date=September 8, 2005 |title=Football Season Is Over Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's final note&nbsp;... Entering the no more fun zone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7605448/football_season_is_over |url-status=dead |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619074031/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7605448/football_season_is_over |archive-date=June 19, 2008 |access-date=October 13, 2008}}</ref>}}

Thompson's collaborator and friend [[Ralph Steadman]] wrote:

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;He told me 25 years ago that he would feel real trapped if he didn't know that he could commit suicide at any moment. I don't know if that is brave or stupid or what, but it was inevitable. I think that the truth of what rings through all his writing is that he meant what he said. If that is entertainment to you, well, that's OK. If you think that it enlightened you, well, that's even better. If you wonder if he's gone to Heaven or Hell, rest assured he will check out them both, find out which one [[Richard Milhous Nixon]] went to—and go there. He could never stand being bored. But there must be Football too—and Peacocks&nbsp;...<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steadman, Ralph |date=February 2005 |title=Hunter S. Thompson 1937–2005 |url=http://www.ralphsteadman.com/04frmrlph2.asp?entry_id=79 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216192811/http://ralphsteadman.com/04frmrlph2.asp?entry_id=79 |archive-date=December 16, 2011 |website=Ralphsteadman.com}}</ref>}}

===Funeral===
On August 20, 2005, in a private funeral at Owl Farm, Thompson's ashes were fired from a cannon. This was accompanied by red, white, blue, and green fireworks—all to the tune of [[Norman Greenbaum]]'s "[[Spirit in the Sky]]" and [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Mr. Tambourine Man]]".<ref name="editorandpublisher1">{{Cite magazine |title=Hunter Thompson Blown Sky High |url=http://www.billboard.com/news/hot-product-1001018730.story#/news/hot-product-1001018730.story |url-status=dead |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610100530/http://www.billboard.com/news/hot-product-1001018730.story |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |access-date=July 30, 2010}}</ref> The cannon was placed atop a {{convert|153|ft|m|adj=on}} tower which had the shape of a [[:File:Gonzo.svg|double-thumbed fist clutching a peyote button]], a symbol originally used in his 1970 campaign for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado. The plans for the monument were initially drawn by Thompson and Steadman, and were shown as part of an ''[[Omnibus (UK TV series)|Omnibus]]'' program on the [[BBC]] titled ''[[Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision]]'' (1978). It is included as a special feature on the second disc of the 2004 [[Criterion Collection]] DVD release of ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'', and labeled as ''Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood''.

According to his widow, Anita, the $3&nbsp;million funeral was funded by actor Johnny Depp, who was a close friend of Thompson's. Depp told the [[Associated Press]], "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."<ref name="editorandpublisher1" /> An estimated 280 people attended, including Steadman; U.S. Senators [[John Kerry]] and [[George McGovern]];<ref name="Brooks">{{Cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Brooks |first2=Jonathan |last2=Brooks |title=Laid to Rest in California: A Guide to the Cemeteries and Grave Sites of the Rich and Famous |year=2006 |page=321}}</ref> ''[[60 Minutes]]'' correspondents [[Ed Bradley]] and [[Charlie Rose]]; actors [[Jack Nicholson]], [[John Cusack]], [[Bill Murray]], [[Benicio del&nbsp;Toro]], [[Sean Penn]], and [[Josh Hartnett]]; and musicians [[Lyle Lovett]], [[John Oates]] and [[David Amram]].

==Legacy==
===Writing style===
{{Main|Gonzo journalism}}
Thompson is often credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of writing that blurs distinctions between fiction and nonfiction. His work and style are considered to be a major part of the [[New Journalism]] literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which attempted to break free from the purely objective style of mainstream reportage of the time. Thompson almost always wrote in the [[first person narrative|first person]], while extensively using his own experiences and emotions to color "the story" he was trying to follow.

Despite him having personally described his work as "Gonzo", it fell to later observers to articulate what the term actually meant. While Thompson's approach clearly involved injecting himself as a participant in the events of the narrative, it also involved adding invented, metaphoric elements, thus creating, for the uninitiated reader, a seemingly confusing amalgam of facts and fiction notable for the deliberately blurred lines between one and the other. Thompson, in a 1974 interview in ''Playboy'' addressed the issue himself, saying, "Unlike Tom Wolfe or Gay Talese, I almost never try to reconstruct a story. They're both much better reporters than I am, but then, I don't think of myself as a reporter." [[Tom Wolfe]] would later describe Thompson's style as "...&nbsp;part journalism and part personal memoir admixed with powers of wild invention and wilder rhetoric."<ref name="wolfetom">{{Cite news |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |date=February 22, 2005 |title=As Gonzo in Life as in His Work |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006325 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050222142331/http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006325 |archive-date=February 22, 2005}}</ref> Or as one description of the differences between Thompson and Wolfe's styles would elaborate, "While Tom Wolfe mastered the technique of being a fly on the wall, Thompson mastered the art of being a [[fly in the ointment]]."<ref>{{Cite book |date=August 22, 1995 |title=Better Than Sex |author=Hunter S. Thompson |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780345396358.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415233459/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178185/better-than-sex-by-hunter-s-thompson/9780345396358 |archive-date=April 15, 2022 |access-date=July 30, 2010 |publisher=Random House}}</ref>

The majority of Thompson's most popular and acclaimed work appeared within the pages of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Publisher Jan Wenner said Thompson was "in the DNA of ''Rolling Stone''".<ref name=wennerbook /> Along with [[Joe Eszterhas]] and David Felton, Thompson was instrumental in expanding the focus of the magazine past music criticism; indeed, Thompson was the only staff writer of the epoch never to contribute a music feature to the magazine. Nevertheless, his articles were always peppered with a wide array of pop music references ranging from [[Howlin' Wolf]] to [[Lou Reed]]. Armed with early [[fax]] machines wherever he went, he became notorious for haphazardly sending sometimes illegible material to the magazine's San Francisco offices as an issue was about to go to press.

Wenner said Thompson tended to work "in long bursts of energy, awake until dawn or, too often, two dawns." He said keeping Thompson on track when finishing a piece required "...companionship, or what editors call hand-holding, but in Hunter's case it was more like being a junior officer in his war. He required his creature comforts, which meant the right kind of typewriter and a certain color paper, Wild Turkey, the right drugs, and the proper music."<ref name=wennerbook />

Robert Love, Thompson's editor of 23&nbsp;years at ''Rolling Stone'', wrote in the ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'' that "the dividing line between fact and fancy rarely blurred, and we didn't always use italics or some other typographical device to indicate the lurch into the fabulous. But if there were living, identifiable humans in a scene, we took certain steps&nbsp;... Hunter was a close friend of many prominent Democrats, veterans of the ten or more presidential campaigns he covered, so when in doubt, we'd call the press secretary. 'People will believe almost any twisted kind of story about politicians or Washington,' he once said, and he was right."<ref name="love-cjr">Love, Robert. (May–June 2005) {{Cite web |date=May–June 2005 |title=''A Technical Guide For Editing Gonzo'' |url=https://www.cjr.org/issues |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070410013416/http://cjr.org/issues/2005/3/hst.asp |archive-date=April 10, 2007 |access-date=June 18, 2024 |website=Columbia Journalism Review}}</ref>

Discerning the line between the fact and fiction of Thompson's work presented a practical problem for editors and fact-checkers. Love called fact-checking Thompson's work "one of the sketchiest occupations ever created in the publishing world", and "for the first-timer&nbsp;... a trip through a journalistic fun house, where you didn't know what was real and what wasn't. You knew you had better learn enough about the subject at hand to know when the riff began and reality ended. Hunter was a stickler for numbers, for details like gross weight and model numbers, for lyrics and [[caliber]], and there was no faking it."<ref name="love-cjr"/>

===Persona===
{{Main|Raoul Duke}}

Thompson often used a blend of fiction and fact when portraying himself in his writing, too, sometimes using the name [[Raoul Duke]] as an [[author surrogate]] whom he generally described as a callous, erratic, self-destructive journalist, constantly drinking and taking hallucinogenics. In the early 1980s, Wenner spoke with Thompson about his alcoholism and addiction to cocaine, and offered to pay for drug treatment. "Hunter was polite and firm;" Wenner wrote in 2022. "He had thought about it and didn't feel he could or would change. He felt that [his drug abuse] was a key to his talent. He said that if he didn't do drugs, he would have the mind of an accountant. The abuse was already taking a toll on his gifts.... It was just too late, and he knew it."<ref name=wennerbook />

In the late 1960s, Thompson acquired the [[Honorary degree|title of]] "Doctor" from the Church of the New Truth.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kaul |first=Arthur J. |url=https://web.english.upenn.edu/~despey/thompson.htm |title=Hunter S. Thompson |website=web.english.upenn.edu |access-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029152347/https://web.english.upenn.edu/~despey/thompson.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Johnston |first=Ian |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/05707-hunter-s-thompson-interview |title=A Quietus Interview – An Unpublished Interview With Hunter S. Thompson |magazine=[[The Quietus]] |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127090903/https://thequietus.com/articles/05707-hunter-s-thompson-interview |url-status=live }}</ref>

A number of critics have commented that as he grew older, the line that distinguished Thompson from his literary self became increasingly blurred.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cohen, Rich |date=April 17, 2005 |title=''Gonzo Nights'' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/books/review/17COHENRE.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523054908/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/books/review/17COHENRE.html?pagewanted=print&position= |archive-date=May 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 27, 2006 |title=Hunter S. Thompson (2/23/05) |url=http://theopinionmill.wordpress.com/2006/12/26/hunter-s-thompson-22305 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402124248/http://theopinionmill.wordpress.com/2006/12/26/hunter-s-thompson-22305/ |archive-date=April 2, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=December 26, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Clifford |first=Peggy |date=March 2, 2005 |title=Love Song for Hunter S. Thompson/18706 |url=http://www.smmirror.com/MainPages/DisplayArticleDetails.asp?eid=157 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402124248/http://www.smmirror.com/MainPages/DisplayArticleDetails.asp?eid=157 |archive-date=April 2, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> Thompson admitted during a 1978 BBC interview that he sometimes felt pressured to live up to the fictional self that he had created, adding, "I'm never sure which one people expect me to be. Very often, they conflict—most often, as a matter of fact.&nbsp;... I'm leading a normal life and right alongside me there is this myth, and it is growing and mushrooming and getting more and more warped. When I get invited to, say, speak at universities, I'm not sure if they are inviting Duke or Thompson. I'm not sure who to be."<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 15, 2007 |title=Fear And Loathing in Gonzovision |url=http://thenewishjournalism.blogspot.com/2007/10/fear-and-loathing-in-gonzovision.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330080144/http://thenewishjournalism.blogspot.com/2007/10/fear-and-loathing-in-gonzovision.html |archive-date=March 30, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>

Thompson's writing style and eccentric persona gave him a [[cult following]] in both literary and drug circles, and his cult status expanded into broader areas after being portrayed three times in major motion pictures. Hence, both his writing style and persona have been widely imitated, and his likeness has even become a popular costume choice for [[Halloween]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 31, 2006 |title=Hunter S. Thompson Halloween |url=https://images.google.com/images?hl=en&hs=293&safe=off&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&q=hunter%20s%20thompson%20halloween&spell=1&oe=UTF-8&tab=wi |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021001203319/http://images.google.com/images?hl=en |archive-date=October 1, 2002 |access-date=July 30, 2010}}</ref>

===Political beliefs===
Thompson was a [[firearm]]s and [[explosives]] enthusiast (in his writing and in life) and owned a large collection of handguns, rifles, shotguns, and various [[automatic firearm|automatic]] and [[semi-automatic firearm|semiautomatic]] weapons, along with numerous forms of [[Lachrymatory agent|gaseous crowd-control]] and many homemade devices.{{cn|date=July 2024}} He was a proponent of the [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|right to bear arms]] and [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|privacy rights]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glassie |first=John |date=February 3, 2003 |title=Hunter S. Thompson |work=Salon |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/02/03/thompson/index.html?pn=2 |url-status=dead |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607032419/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/02/03/thompson/index.html?pn=2 |archive-date=June 7, 2011}}</ref> A member of the [[National Rifle Association of America]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Susman |first=Tina |date=February 22, 2005 |title=Writer's suicide shocks friends |url=http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ushunt224153856feb22,0,4715271.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127024140/http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ushunt224153856feb22%2C0%2C4715271.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines |archive-date=November 27, 2007 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |publisher=Newsday.com}}</ref> Thompson was also co-creator of the Fourth Amendment Foundation, an organization to assist victims in defending themselves against unwarranted [[search and seizure]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Higgins |first=Matt |date=September 2, 2003 |title=The Gonzo King |url=http://hightimes.com/entertainment/mhiggins/970 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929131805/http://hightimes.com/entertainment/mhiggins/970 |archive-date=September 29, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |publisher=High Times}}</ref>

Part of his work with the Fourth Amendment Foundation centered around support of [[Lisl Auman]], a [[Colorado]] woman who was sentenced for [[Life imprisonment|life]] in 1997 under [[felony murder]] charges for the death of police officer Bruce VanderJagt, despite contradictory statements and dubious evidence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McMaken |first=Ryan |title=Hunter S. Thompson's Last Stand |url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/mcmaken/mcmaken134.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313204113/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/mcmaken/mcmaken134.html |archive-date=March 13, 2014 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> Thompson organized rallies, provided legal support, and co-wrote an article in the June 2004 issue of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' outlining the case. The [[Colorado Supreme Court]] eventually overturned Auman's sentence in March 2005, shortly after Thompson's death, and Auman is now free. Auman's supporters claim Thompson's support and publicity resulted in the successful appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moseley |first=Matt |date=April 26, 2006 |title=Lisl Released from Tooley Hall |url=http://www.lisl.com/caseupdate.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506163933/http://www.lisl.com/caseupdate.htm |archive-date=May 6, 2006 |access-date=March 14, 2017 |website=lisl.com}}</ref>

Thompson was also an ardent supporter of [[drug legalization]] and became known for his detailed accounts of his own [[Recreational drug use|drug use]]. He was an early supporter of the [[National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws]] and served on the group's advisory board for over 30 years, until his death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aspen Legal Seminar |url=http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6823 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012115131/http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6823 |archive-date=October 12, 2011 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> He told an interviewer in 1997 that drugs should be legalized "[a]cross the board. It might be a little rough on some people for a while, but I think it's the only way to deal with drugs. Look at [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]; all it did was make a lot of criminals rich."<ref name="fargone" />

In a 1965 letter to his friend Paul Semonin, Thompson explained an affection for the [[Industrial Workers of the World]], "I have in recent months come to have a certain feeling for [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]] and the Wobbly crowd who, if nothing else, had the right idea. But not the right mechanics. I believe the IWW was probably the last human concept in American politics."<ref>Hunter S. Thompson ''The Proud Highway: 1955–67, Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman'', p. 509.</ref> In another letter to Semonin, Thompson wrote that he agreed with [[Karl Marx]], and compared him to [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>Hunter S. Thompson ''The Proud Highway'', p. 493.</ref> In a letter to [[William Kennedy (author)|William Kennedy]], Thompson confided that he was "coming to view the [[free enterprise]] system as the single greatest evil in the history of human savagery."<ref>Hunter S. Thompson ''The Proud Highway'', p. 456.</ref> In the documentary ''[[Breakfast with Hunter]]'', Thompson is seen in several scenes wearing different [[Che Guevara]] T-shirts. Additionally, actor and friend [[Benicio del Toro]] has stated that Thompson kept a "big" [[Guerrillero Heroico|picture of Che]] in his kitchen.<ref>[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gonzo-the-life-and-work-of-dr-hunter-s-thompson Hunter S. Thompson: The Movie] by Alex Gibney, ''The Sunday Times'', December 14, 2008</ref> Thompson wrote on behalf of African-American rights and the [[civil rights movement]].<ref>Hunter S. Thompson, ''The Great Shark Hunt'' (London, 1980), pp.&nbsp;43–51.</ref> He strongly criticized the dominance in American society of what he called "white power structures".<ref>Hunter S. Thompson, ''The Great Shark Hunt'', (1980), pp.&nbsp;44–50.</ref>

After the [[September 11 attacks]], Thompson voiced skepticism regarding the [[9/11 Commission Report|official story on who was responsible for the attacks]]. He speculated to several interviewers that it had been [[False flag|conducted by]] [[9/11 conspiracy theories|the U.S. government or with the government's assistance]], though readily admitting he had no way to prove his theory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bulger |first=Adam |date=March 9, 2004 |title=The Hunter S. Thompson Interview |url=http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=287 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125014310/http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=287 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |publisher=FreezerBox}}</ref>

In 2004, Thompson wrote: "[Richard] Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for—but if he were running for president this year against the evil [[George W. Bush|Bush]]–[[Dick Cheney|Cheney]] gang, I would happily vote for him."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Thompson |first=Hunter S. |date=October 24, 2004 |title=Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/6562575/fear_and_loathing_campaign_2004 |url-status=dead |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709073911/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/6562575/fear_and_loathing_campaign_2004 |archive-date=July 9, 2008 |access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>

=== Scholarships ===
Thompson's widow established two scholarship funds at [[Columbia University School of General Studies]] for U.S. military veterans and the [[University of Kentucky]] for journalism students.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Travers |first=Andrew |title=What's next for Hunter S. Thompson's Owl Farm? |url=https://www.aspentimes.com/entertainment/whats-next-for-hunter-s-thompsons-owl-farm/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622151850/https://www.aspentimes.com/entertainment/whats-next-for-hunter-s-thompsons-owl-farm/ |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=aspentimes.com |date=November 27, 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="www.aspentimes.com-2016" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=CI: Gonzo Foundation Scholarship Fund |url=https://ci.uky.edu/ci/gonzo-foundation-scholarship-fund |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621123443/https://ci.uky.edu/ci/gonzo-foundation-scholarship-fund |archive-date=June 21, 2020 |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=ci.uky.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hunter S. Thompson's Cabin Is on Airbnb — Proceeds Go To Columbia University Veterans |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/hunter-s-thompsons-cabin-is-on-airbnband-proceeds-go-to-columbia-university-veterans/1628769/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622055453/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/hunter-s-thompsons-cabin-is-on-airbnband-proceeds-go-to-columbia-university-veterans/1628769/ |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=NBC New York |date=July 12, 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref>
Colorado NORML created the Hunter S. Thompson Scholarship to pay all expenses for a lawyer or law student to attend the NORML Legal Committee Conference in Aspen, generally the first few days of June each year. The funding from a silent auction has paid for two winners for some years. Many winners have gone on to become important cannabis lawyers on state and national levels.<ref>I've personally assisted in all aspects of this scholarship. Lauren Maytin, Aspen, NLC longest-serving member has been involved since the inception of this prestigious award.</ref>

==Works==
{{Main|Hunter S. Thompson bibliography}}

==Awards, accolades, and tributes==
* Thompson was named a [[Kentucky Colonel]] by the governor of [[Kentucky]] in a December 1996 tribute ceremony where he also received keys to the city of Louisville.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whitehead, Ron |date=March 11, 2005 |title=''Hunter S. Thompson, Kentucky Colonel'' |url=http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Hunter-S-Thompson-1937-2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612002816/http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Hunter-S-Thompson-1937-2005 |archive-date=June 12, 2013 |website=Reykjaviks Magazine}}</ref>
* [[Dale Gribble]], a main character on Fox's animated sitcom ''[[King of the Hill]]'', is based on Thompson in terms of appearance and lifestyle.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whittaker |first=Richard |date=2023 |title=Johnny Hardwick, the Voice of Dale Gribble, Dies at 64 |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2023-08-10/johnny-hardwick-the-voice-of-dale-gribble-dies-at-64/ |access-date=March 23, 2024 |website=austinchronicle.com |language=en-US |quote=Hardwick described the character's look as being inspired by William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson |archive-date=August 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817090846/https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2023-08-10/johnny-hardwick-the-voice-of-dale-gribble-dies-at-64/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Author Tom Wolfe has called Thompson the greatest American comic writer of the 20th century.<ref name="wolfetom" />
* Asked in an interview with Jody Denberg on KGSR Studio, in 2000, whether he would ever consider writing a book "like [his] buddy Hunter S. Thompson", the musician [[Warren Zevon]] responded: "Let's remember that Hunter S. Thompson is the finest writer of our generation; he didn't just toss off a book the other day..."<ref>{{YouTube|jseKHl8lOa8}}</ref>
* Thompson appeared on the cover of the 1,000th issue of ''Rolling Stone'', May 18 – June 1, 2006, as a devil playing the guitar next to the two "L"'s in the word "Rolling". Johnny Depp also appeared on the cover.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=2006 Rolling Stone Covers; RS 1000–1001 (May 18 – June 1, 2006) |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/2006-rolling-stone-covers-20061214/rs-1000-1001-may-18-june-1-2006-16271508 |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427092046/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/2006-rolling-stone-covers-20061214/rs-1000-1001-may-18-june-1-2006-16271508 |archive-date=April 27, 2012 |access-date=March 14, 2017}}</ref>
* Many have suggested that General Hunter Gathers in the [[Adult Swim]] animated series ''[[The Venture Bros.]]'' is a tribute to Thompson, as they have a similar name, mannerisms, and physical appearance.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 24, 2008 |title=Cultelevision – The Venture Brothers |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/cultelevision-the-venture-brothers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121835/https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/cultelevision-the-venture-brothers/ |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=Den of Geek |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maher |first=John |date=August 9, 2018 |title=Jackson Publick on the Ambition of 'The Venture Bros.' |url=https://dotandline.net/the-venture-bros-jackson-publick-interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326015855/https://dotandline.net/the-venture-bros-jackson-publick-interview/ |archive-date=March 26, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=The Dot and Line |language=en-US}}</ref>
*In the [[Cameron Crowe]] film ''[[Almost Famous]]'', based on Crowe's experiences writing for ''Rolling Stone'' while on the road with the fictional band Stillwater", the writer is on the phone with an actor portraying Jann Wenner. Wenner tells the young journalist that he "is not there to join the party, we already have one Hunter Thompson" after the young writer amassed large hotel and traveling expenses and is overheard to be sharing his room with several young women.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Handler |first=Rachel |date=June 24, 2020 |title=The Bittersweet Experience of Watching Almost Famous 20 Years On |url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/the-bittersweet-experience-of-watching-almost-famous.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121828/https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/the-bittersweet-experience-of-watching-almost-famous.html |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2015 |title=15 Secrets Revealed About Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous' on Its 15th Anniversary |url=https://www.thewrap.com/15-secrets-revealed-about-cameron-crowes-almost-famous-on-its-15th-anniversary/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121828/https://www.thewrap.com/15-secrets-revealed-about-cameron-crowes-almost-famous-on-its-15th-anniversary/ |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=TheWrap |language=en-US}}</ref>
*Eric C. Shoaf donated a caché of approximately 800 items (in librarian terms, about 35–40 linear feet of material on a shelf) pertaining to the life and career of Thompson to the University of California at Santa Cruz.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baine |first=Wallace |date=February 27, 2019 |title=Fear and Loathing in Santa Cruz |url=https://goodtimes.sc/cover-stories/hunter-s-thompson-archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230064020/https://goodtimes.sc/cover-stories/hunter-s-thompson-archive/ |archive-date=December 30, 2021 |access-date=December 30, 2021 |website=Good Times Santa Cruz |language=en-US}}</ref> Shoaf also published a descriptive bibliography, ''Gonzology: A Hunter Thompson Bibliography'', of the works of Hunter S. Thompson with over 1,000 entries, many never before documented appearances in print, hundreds of biographical entries about Thompson's life, full descriptions of all his primary works, preface by William McKeen, Phd, and photo section with rare and exclusive items depicted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shoaf |first=Eric C. |title=Gonzology: a Hunter Thompson bibliography |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-7324515-0-6 |location=Charlotte, NC |publisher=Cielo Publishing |oclc=1050361234}}</ref>
*An imaginary version of Thompson, played by P.J. Sosko, is a recurring character in the television series ''[[The Girls on the Bus]]'' (2024). He turns up to advise the young journalist Sadie McCarthy, who is a great admirer of Thompson and the only person who sees and hears him.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Laguerre-Lewis|first=Kayla|date=March 13, 2024|title=The Girls On The Bus Cast & Character Guide|url=https://screenrant.com/the-girls-on-the-bus-cast-character-guide/|access-date=April 29, 2024|website=Screenrant|language=en-US|archive-date=March 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318132127/https://screenrant.com/the-girls-on-the-bus-cast-character-guide/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Denevi, Timothy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aZPewQEACAAJ Freak Kingdom: Hunter S. Thompson's Manic Ten-Year Crusade Against American Fascism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009230710/https://books.google.com/books?id=aZPewQEACAAJ |date=October 9, 2023 }}. New York: PublicAffairs, 2018. {{ISBN|1541767942}}
* McKeen, William, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6leNEAAAQBAJ Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009230710/https://books.google.com/books?id=6leNEAAAQBAJ |date=October 9, 2023 }}. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. {{ISBN|0393335453}}
* Richardson, Peter, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hplEEAAAQBAJ Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402005213/https://books.google.com/books?id=hplEEAAAQBAJ |date=April 2, 2023 }}. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022. {{ISBN|9780520304925}}
* Wills, David S., [https://books.google.com/books?id=Pih4zgEACAAJ&q=high+white+notes High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414003615/https://books.google.com/books?id=Pih4zgEACAAJ&q=high+white+notes |date=April 14, 2023 }}. Edinburgh: Beatdom Books, 2022. {{ISBN|978-0-9934099-8-1}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EVYFEDvsiYC |title=Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson |date=September 4, 2008 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Co. |isbn=9780748108497 |editor-last=Wenner |editor-first=Jann S. |location=New York |editor-last2=Seymour |editor-first2=Corey |access-date=October 2, 2020 |archive-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127090909/https://books.google.com/books?id=8EVYFEDvsiYC |url-status=live }}

== External links ==
{{sisterlinks|d=yes|c=Category:Hunter S. Thompson|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|wikt=no|mw=no|species=no|f=no|s=no}}
* {{C-SPAN|49320|Hunter S. Thompson}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* [https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Hunter-S-Thompson/1314568 Official author's page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907084513/https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Hunter-S-Thompson/1314568 |date=September 7, 2023 }} at [[Simon & Schuster]] 
* {{Cite journal |last=Douglas Brinkley, Terry McDonell |date=Fall 2000 |title=Hunter S. Thompson, The Art of Journalism No. 1 |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/619/the-art-of-journalism-no-1-hunter-s-thompson |journal=The Paris Review |volume=Fall 2000 |issue=156 |access-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240507210330/https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/619/the-art-of-journalism-no-1-hunter-s-thompson |url-status=live }}
* [https://totallygonzo.org/gonzowriting/hst-hey-rube-espn-page-2/ "Hunter S. Thompson's ESPN Page 2 Archive"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240507210332/https://totallygonzo.org/gonzowriting/hst-hey-rube-espn-page-2/ |date=May 7, 2024 }}, at Totallygonzo.org
* [https://gonzo-studies.org/bibliography/ Hunter S. Thompson full bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907084514/https://gonzo-studies.org/bibliography/ |date=September 7, 2023 }}, at Gonzo-Studies.org
* [https://hstbooks.org/ A collection of Hunter S. Thompson resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922170615/https://hstbooks.org/ |date=September 22, 2016 }}, at HSTbooks.org

{{Hunter S. Thompson|state=expanded}}
{{Biker culture}}
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