Hunter Thompson's widow unhappy with new bio

Anita Thompson, who was married to Hunter S. Thompson for two years before he died, is unhappy with Jann Wenner's Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson, An Oral Biography. She told the NY Daily News:

"There are beautiful parts in [Wenner's] book, but it sensationalizes Hunter unecessarily. It's meant to portray him as losing his mind at the end, but he was not. He was just as kind and decent and brilliant as when he was younger.

"And it portrays him like leaving Rolling Stone was the biggest mistake of his life. After leaving Rolling Stone, he's portrayed as an awful beast of a man. Jann looks at it as humiliating that, after he left Rolling Stone, Hunter wrote for ESPN. But Hunter's deepest passion was politics and sports. And he was looking at sports readers as just as important. He saw them as a powerful voting bloc if they could be inspired to vote.

"When Hunter was compiling his second letters book, there was some humiliating correspondence between Hunter and Jann. His publisher was urging him to put it in, but in the end, Hunter didn't run it. It would've sold more books. But he protected his buddy. I'm sad that Jann didn't do the same.

(Shown here: Anita and me at her book signing in Aspen Colorado for The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. She told me Hunter would have loved my shirt.)

Link

[#1 posted by tommytommy2020 , November 2, 2007 6:23 PM]

Mark, what kind of makeup do you wear?

[#2 posted by drivenbyboredom , November 2, 2007 8:35 PM]

I have read nearly everything HST has ever written, and his ESPN stuff was amazing. It was some of his best work since the 1970's.

[#3 posted by OM , November 2, 2007 9:32 PM]

...I was wondering what took Wenner so long to get in the last word :p

[#4 posted by Landowner , November 2, 2007 10:16 PM]

So a lifetime of unrestrained drug abuse caused absolutely no brain damage? I find that hard to believe.

[#5 posted by Allison Sprite , November 2, 2007 10:52 PM]

** Mark, what kind of makeup do you wear? **

Lay off my Markie, he's always cute as a button!

Allison

[#6 posted by BattyMcDougall , November 3, 2007 8:55 AM]

One would expect Jann to hop on board the Hunter bus. The two where sparring partners, the only difference between the duo, is that Hunter had some integrity.

[#7 posted by SoulDaYondah , November 3, 2007 11:57 AM]

Naaah, the doctor was'nt crazy at all. He was a big gun wielding, deeply intoxicated, yelling outlaw café racer. Lets not mix things up, here.

Yeah, hum: btw I just posted a song I humbly dedicated to the memory of HtS on www.myspace.com/jeanfrancoisc. Enjoy

[#8 posted by tommytommy2020 , November 3, 2007 7:05 PM]

>Lay off my Markie, he's always cute as a button!

>Allison

I agree! That's why I asked. I want to emulate him even more thoroughly than I do already. Are you saying there's something wrong with men wearing makeup?

[#9 posted by thebutler , November 3, 2007 8:59 PM]

The thing with Hunter is/was I don't think anyone really knows what he was thinking. And thats what made his writing so damn good.

[#10 posted by Landowner , November 5, 2007 6:55 AM]

@ "this field is mandatory"

Great post man.
Be sure to keep us abreast of all the things you don't care about.

[#11 posted by Pyros , November 5, 2007 10:07 AM]

History is written by the Wenners.