"Gets it all in: the boozing and drugging…but also the intelligence, the loyalty, the inherent decency." —Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
Hunter S. Thompson detonated a two-ton bomb under the staid field of journalism with his magazine pieces and revelatory Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In Outlaw Journalist, the famous inventor of Gonzo journalism is portrayed as never before. Through in-depth interviews with Thompson’s associates, William McKeen gets behind the drinking and the drugs to show the man and the writer—one who was happy to be considered an outlaw and for whom the calling of journalism was life.
William McKeen, chair of the journalism department at Boston University, has written or edited thirteen books including Outlaw Journalist, Highway 61, and Everybody Had an Ocean.
Table of Contents
Preface: The End xiii Getting Away With It 1 Square Peg, Round Hole 21 The Dark Thumb of Fate 36 A Natural Ingrate 54 Observer 70 Stranger in a Strange Land 83 Among the Angels 96 American Dream 113 Epiphany 127 Freak Power 150 Making a Beast of Himself 163 Truth Is Never Told in Daylight 178 Celebrity 202 Casualties of War 233 Thompson's Island 254 The Genetic Miracle 279 Homecoming 310 Man of Letters 332 Epilogue 352 Notes 367 Bibliography 399 Author's Note 405 Acknowledgments 409 Index 411
