Frequently involved in mischief, Thompson ran with a group of friends that were constantly testing the limits. His father, Jack, was a World War I veteran and insurance agent who died while Thompson was in high school, and his mother, Virginia, was an alcoholic left penniless and in charge of their charming but incorrigible son and his two younger brothers. Hunter Stockton Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 18, 1937. However, his fondness for substances also contributed to several bouts of poor health, and in 2005 Thompson committed suicide at the age of 67. For the remainder of his life, Thompson’s hard-driving lifestyle - which included the steady use of illicit drugs and an ongoing love affair with firearms - and his relentlessly antiauthoritarian work made him a perpetual counterculture icon. Following his military service, Thompson traveled the country to cover a wide array of topics for numerous magazines and developed an immersive, highly personal style of reporting that would become known as “Gonzo Journalism.” He would employ the style in the 1972 book for which he is best known, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was an instant and lasting success. Thompson showed a knack for writing at a young age, and after high school began his career in journalism while serving in the United States Air Force. This book preserves 46 of his articles, hand-selected by the one-of-kind maverick himself.Hunter S. Thompson was among the first journalists to question the level of "truth" possible when covering historic events. From his first-hand account of living and riding with the Hell's Angels, to his electric coverage of the 1972 election campaign, to his indictment of the counterculture revolution while sheltering from it in Las Vegas, Hunter S. A founder of "Gonzo" journalism, Thompson threw any claims to objectivity out the window (probably many windows). At some point in his writing, history and the man covering history, became merged into one great story. Thompson almost single-handedly reinvented the image of how a journalist should write and, more importantly, behave. Contemporary date written in pen on front free endpaper. Light edgewear and mild toning to dustjacket. Photopictorial dust jacket depicting the author. Half black cloth, black buckram spine, titles on spine and the "Gonzo Fist" symbol on front board in white.
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