Outlaw Journalist

An admirable book' Christopher Hitchens, Sunday Times Superb' Stephen Amidon, Literary Review Hunter S. Thompson changed the way we think about journalism. His writing continues to entertain decades after it was published, melding fact and fiction in a supercharged prose style to chronicle his disgraceful drink- and drug- fuelled adventures. His deep love for America informed everything he wrote, and his heartbreak when America disappointed him was devastating. Thompson's masterpiece, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is a classic of New Journalism, portraying the frenetic and furious journey of Duke (the author's alter ego) as to Sin City with his crazy lawyer and a trunkful of drugs to report on a motorcycle race. Other classic books include Hell's Angels and The Great Shark Hunt. William McKeen became friends with Thompson after writing a monograph on his work. He has interviewed many of the writer's associates who would not speak before, from childhood friends to assistants at his Colorado home, getting behind the drink and drugs to reveal a charismatic figure who was happy to be considered an outlaw but took the calling of journalism as his vocation.
Outlaw Journalist is the definitive biography of this compelling American icon. William McKeen is a professor of journalism and the author of Highway 61 and editor of Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay. He lives in Florida.