The basis for his political involvement was formed in 1968. And that is inextricably bound up with politics. Because Gonzo is not just a style of journalism, it is a battle for the preservation of Freedom and the American Dream. It covers the horse race, the failure of the American Dream and, of course, Richard Nixon. An inflammatory story apparently written at one sitting. The article ‘The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved’ appeared in Scanlan’s Monthly in June 1970. The style evolved in 1970 when he failed to meet a deadline and in blind panic sent in his notes instead. O’Rourke, another Rolling Stone celebrity, quoted Thompson. Thompson lost himself in his own mind, and traced only his own madcap, hallucinatory journey through the many events in his stories. They lose themselves in the minds of their subjects. Wolfe and the like attack the truth with the techniques of the novelist. His Gonzo style was often confused with New Journalism, made famous by Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese. Hunter Thompson was that path the only fully fledged grand master of Gonzo. Gonzo comes from the French-Canadian word gonzeaux which means something along the lines of shining path. That, battle weary, he’d given up on the Gonzo cause. Word had it that Thompson was burned out. Five in the morning would have been a more approriate time. The sun was already sinking behind the Rocky Mountains, bathing the area around the Tavern in a chill and cheerless light, when finally the great Doctor made his appearance. But we managed, once, after endless waiting and drinking our way into the local bar, The Woody Creek tavern. ‘Prince of Gonzo’ he called himself, ‘Doctor Gonzo’, ‘Doctor of Journalism’, ‘Outlaw Journalist’, ‘Doc’, ‘The Duke’: Hunter Stockton Thompson (Louisville, Kentucky, 1939).Īnd as with rock stars meeting one is never an easy task. The inventor of Shotgun Art and Shotgun Golf fatally shot himself at his Owl Creek farm in Woody Creek, Colorado. Thompson, the counter culture ‘gonzo’ journalist, died on Februby a weapon of his choice.

Hunter thompson fear and loathing