Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson

William McKeen

Jul 2009 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this eBook

"Gets it all in: the boozing and drugging…but also the intelligence, the loyalty, the inherent decency." —Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

Hunter S. Thompson detonated a two-ton bomb under the staid field of journalism with his magazine pieces and revelatory Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In Outlaw Journalist, the famous inventor of Gonzo journalism is portrayed as never before. Through in-depth interviews with Thompson’s associates, William McKeen gets behind the drinking and the drugs to show the man and the writer—one who was happy to be considered an outlaw and for whom the calling of journalism was life.

Ratings and reviews

There have been just as many half-assed imitation biographies, it would seem, as there are half-assed imitators of the legendary HST. I had been waiting for a book like Mr. McKeen's for years before the Gonzo King died. Its the ONE bio of HST worth yr time...& I've unfortunately read 'em all.

About the author

William McKeen, chair of the journalism department at Boston University, has written or edited thirteen books including Outlaw Journalist, Highway 61, and Everybody Had an Ocean.