Unique Profiles: Hunter S. Thompson

Another brief post for the people. This second installment in our “Unique Profiles” series focuses on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, largely accepted as the original practitioner of the “gonzo” style of journalism. Several books looking back at Thompson’s life have been released in the past year, including this one by some of his former colleagues at Rolling Stone magazine. The book leans heavily on first-person accounts from people who knew Thompson. Here’s a review of the book from the New York Times Book Review by TIME magazine writer Joel Klein, and some excerpts from, what else, Rolling Stone. Read and enjoy.

Unique profiles

Occasionally in my reading, I stumble across a unique character profile that I wish to share with you, dear reader. It might be about an individual whom I’ve never even heard of (such is the case this time), but the nature of the person’s life strikes me in some way that I wouldn’t feel right if I were to keep such newfound knowledge to myself. In sharing these profiles with you, I may occasionally “show my age” by making some categorical statement that could easily be refuted by someone who’s been around long enough to actually know what I’m talking about (seeing as I might not). But I’ll share just the same.

The first such profile is this piece from a recent Wall Street Journal about Jacques Barzun, a cultural historian, professor and longtime feature at Columbia University. If you want to find out more, read it. If you don’t, that’s fine. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it…

And to give you another taste of what this series of profiles will be like, here’s an item from a February edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review about the part-time literary career of E. Howard Hunt, one of those responsible for organizing the infamous Watergate break-in.