Part 7 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 6 here)
7. Final Wisdom: The Truth Was Not in Him!
“We’d be fools not to ride this strange torpedo to the end!” (more…)
Part 6 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 5 here, Part 7 here)
6. Gonzo: Paleocon, Neocon, or Just Con?
I had just begun to doubt some of my strongest convictions when I stumbled upon [Colin Wilson’s The Outsider]. But rather than being wrong, I think that I just don’t express my rightness correctly. — Hunter S. Thompson (more…)
3,735 words
Part 4 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here, Part 5 here)
4. Father of Fake News – or OT (Original Troll)? . . . The Myth of the Golfing Douchebag
I have discovered the secret of writing fiction, calling it impressionistic journalism, and selling it to people who want “something fresh.” — Hunter S. Thompson
Any man who still has a residue of honor will be very careful not to become a journalist. — Dr. Josef Goebbels (more…)
3,360 words
Part 2 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
2. What is Gonzo? — High White Notes
“It has finally come home to me that I am not going to be either the Fitzgerald or the Hemingway of this generation . . . I am going to be the Thompson of this generation, and that makes me more nervous than anything else I can think of.” (more…)
Part 1 of 7 (Part 2 here)
David S. Wills
High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism
St. Andrews: Beatdom Books, 2021
“He’s a drunk and he’s a doper who has got a style which is very dangerous for journalism students to pick up on.” — Harlan Ellison, 1979[1]
David Wills comes not to bury Hunter Thompson, but to praise him; ultimately, he does a pretty good job of both. (more…)