Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider's View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance [Hardcover]

Jay Cowan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2009

From military sportswriter to roving correspondent for the National Observer, from quasi Hell’s Angel to counterculture author and gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson led a life of legend. Hunter S. Thompson: The Glory Years tells the remarkable insider’s story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is by far the most thought-provoking and honest look at the late outlaw journalist…HUNTER S. THOMPSON is the most cohesive and comprehensive text yet to be written and is well worth the hours.”

- Steve Rosen, CurledUp.com

"Imagine Hunter Thompson as your landlord . . . as your next door neighbor. Jay Cowan spent several years living just a few yards away from Hunter and lived to tell this tale. With insight and grace, he shows us what Hunter S. Thompson was like off-stage. He also shows how this much-misunderstood man was underestimated as a craftsman. This book brims with madness and affection, not to mention fear and loathing. All gonzo fans will treasure this monumentally entertaining story."

William Mckeen
Author, Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S.Thompson

 

Many would like a ringside seat to the life of Hunter Thompson, but Jay Cowan provides something more:  he puts you in the ring.  Cowan was not merely an observer, but a friend and confidant for over three decades.  Part of this time he actually lived on Thompson’s Colorado compound.  The writing and chemical consumption that made Thompson famous is all here, but so are many moments when Thompson wasn’t playing to his reputation, so that in the end we have an intimate portrait of the man, good and bad, that only Jay Cowan could provide. Were Thompson able to read Hunter S. Thompson, he may not always like it, but he’d have to admit it’s the truth.

 

Scott Lasser

Novelist, Author of "All I Could Get" and "Battle Creek"

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

From quasi Hell’s Angel to counterculture author and gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson led a life of legend. This remarkable book focuses on his most productive (and profligate) period. By a highly regarded author who knew him intimately, it takes us from Thompson’s earliest, improbable success to his gradual, heartbreaking decline.

Jay Cowan, who was caretaker on Thompson’s ranch, paints a sensitive portrait of a man who redefined participatory journalism, who captured the decadence and depravity of an era, and who generally consumed more drugs and alcohol than any other living creature on the planet. In his role as America’s “rock star author,” Thompson was invited to the White House (where he claimed to have snorted coke with presidential aides) and was friends with some of America’s biggest celebrities. A self-professed “lazy hillbilly,” he came to believe that immersing himself totally in a story and even becoming the story himself, and then writing it all in a multiday, deadline-cheating frenzy of drugs and sleeplessness, was the only way to proceed. It had worked for Kerouac, it had worked for Thompson himself with Hell’s Angels, and it meshed perfectly with his desired lifestyle.

Providing extraordinary new insights into the legendary writer’s creative and destructive impulses, Cowan also recounts how his intimacy with Thompson led him into numerous knife-edge situations—whether standing uncomfortable witness to the turmoil of the writer’s various relationships or hoping Thompson was thinking clearly when handling guns.

Featuring previously unpublished color photos, this book provides the most compelling and readable portrait to date of one of America’s most extraordinary personalities.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; First edition (March 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599213575
• ISBN-13: 978-1599213576
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,194,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the editor in chief of the Maggie-award-winning Aspen Sojourner magazine in Aspen, Colorado, and write regularly for a variety of other magazines, including SKI, Snow magazine, Cowboys & Indians magazine, Mountain Gazette, Skiing Heritage, and numerous others too boring or obscure to mention. I've also written an earlier book called The Best of the Alps, a photo-heavy travel guide profiling 13 major summer and winter resorts in five countries.

A recent story of mine on James Bond was selected for The Best American Travel Writing of 2009. Thanks, Jim. I've also received four Harold Hirsch awards for feature magazine writing and a Lowell Thomas Award for ski writing. My primary website is www.bluetrainink.com. The website for my Hunter Thompson book is www.gonzohst.com, and for my magazine it's www.aspensojourner.com.

I live and write in Old Snowmass, Colorado, and travel widely on assignment and for pleasure. I'm currently at work on my next books: In The Land of Living Dangerously, about Indonesia; The Trade, an insider's novel about big-league drug-dealing during the 1970s and 1980s; and Scandal Aspen, about the endless string of major scandals that have taken place in Aspen over the years involving everyone from the Kennedy family to Bernie Madoff and Charlie Sheen, whose recent arrest there was perfectly timed for inclusion. Thanks, Chuck.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal, March 4, 2009

By 

zg (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider's View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance (Hardcover)

Many would like a ringside seat to the life of Hunter Thompson, but Jay Cowen provides something more: he puts you in the ring. Cowen was not merely an observer, but a friend and confidant for over three decades. Part of this time he actually lived on Thompson's Colorado compound. The writing and chemical consumption that made Thompson famous are all here, but so are many moments when Thompson wasn't playing to his reputation, so that in the end we have an intimate portrait of the man, good and bad. The book's epigram, from Voltaire, says, "One owes respect to the living: to the dead one owes only the truth." That's exactly what you get here.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, insider, April 15, 2009

By 

Margaret A. Harrell "published reviews" (NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider's View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance (Hardcover)

I like this a lot.Interesting, coherent, one-person view from the inside. He lets us know his perspective as well. Margaret A. Harrell, Hell's Angels copyeditor

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Insider's look..., April 29, 2009

By 

GonzoFan (Westfield, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider's View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance (Hardcover)

Anyone who has wondered, as most Hunter Thompson fans have, "what it would be like...."
Be careful what you wish for. This is a great look behind the curtain, warts and all, from a writer who posesses considerable skills of his own and knows where the bodies are buried. Or in this case, where the fragments landed.