BEDTIME FOR GONZO
Boulder, Colo.
Warren Hinckle's grand tribute to Hunter S. Thompson [March 21] defines "gonzo journalism" (where the reporter becomes "the active part of the story") as growing "out of a 1970 assignment I gave Thompson," for his Ramparts-esque Scanlan's Monthly. Thank God (and Mr. Hinckle) for having the chutzpah and foresight to let Hunter loose on the Kentucky Derby, where he met up with Ralph Steadman. But such editorial prescience--fostering a modern author's exorcising of American hypocrisies--dates back further. Tom Wolfe, in The New Journalism, writes about an assignment that the late David Newman of Esquire gave my father, Terry Southern, in 1962:
Subscribe Now!
The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.
There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.
- Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
- If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
- Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.

Buzzflash
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Mixx it!
Reddit

RSS