Hunter S. Thompson

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Chapters: Gonzo journalism, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Where the Buffalo Roam, Spider Jerusalem, Uncle Duke, Oscar Zeta Acosta, The Rum Diary, Ralph Steadman, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Breakfast with Hunter, Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood. Excerpt: Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 - February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1973). He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories. He is known also for his unrepentant lifelong use of alcohol, LSD, mescaline, and cocaine (among other substances); his love of firearms; his inveterate hatred of Richard Nixon; and his iconoclastic contempt for authoritarianism. While suffering a bout of health problems, he committed suicide in 2005, at the age of 67. Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the first of three sons, to Jack Robert Thompson (September 4, 1893, Horse Cave, Kentucky - July 3, 1952, Louisville), a public insurance adjuster and World War I veteran, and Virginia Ray Davison (1908, Springfield, Kentucky - March 20, 1998, Louisville), a librarian. His parents were introduced to each other by a friend from Jack's fraternity at the University of Kentucky in September 1934, and were married on November 2, 1935. On December 2, 1943, when Thompson was six years old, the family settled at 2437 Ransdell Avenue, in the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood of The Highlands. On July 3, 1952, when Thompson was 14 years old, his father, aged 58, died of myasthenia gravis. Hunter and his brothers, Davison Wheeler (born June 18, 1940) and James Garnet (February 2, 1949 - March 25, 1993), were raised by their mother. (Hunter also had a much older half-brother, James Thompson, Jr,. from his father's first marriage. James, Jr. was not part of the Thompson household.) Virginia worked as a librarian to support her children, and is described as having become a "heavy drinker" following her husband's death. Interested in sports and athletically inclined from a young age, Thompson joined Louisville's Castlewood Athletic Club, a cl