Almanac of Story Tellers: Hunter S. Thompson

 Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of July 18th

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    It is the 199th day of the year, leaving 166 days remaining in 2022.

 

  On this date in 1937, the journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Ky.

    As a journalist he told his stories during the 1960s and onward in a new and unique way -- shunning the aura of objectivity to report with a personal involvement and a distinctive perspective. He called it gonzo journalism, and it was often done under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.

    His involvement sometimes was physical. After writing an article in The Nation about the Hell's Angels motorcycle club, he continued to ride with them while he gathered information for a book. The Angels thought Thompson was taking advantage of them for his own benefit, and the dispute turned into a brawl, and a stomping, with Thompson being the loser.

    That tale became a major part of his book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It helped cement Thompson's reputation as a fearless, if  hedonistic and self-indulgent idol of some parts of the growing counter-culture.

    He continued to write for magazines, and his work included The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, which focused more on the partying and drinking surrounding the annual event than the actual horse race. His coverage of a motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated turned into another book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in which he was a central character.

    It loosely described a frenetic, drug induced trip to Las Vegas to seek fame and fortune, while telling of the failings of the 1960s hippie movement. It introduced Thompson's alter-ego Raoul Duke -- later satirized in Doonesbury -- and companion Dr. Gonzo. A blend of fact and fiction, part novel and part journalism, it was pure Thompson.

    He followed the style in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, in which he covered the 1972 presidential campaign between Richard Nixon and George McGovern. His reports in Rolling Stone and the ensuing book were unlike anything previously seen in American political reporting.

    Thompson died in 2005 at his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.