On the Wild Side". archive.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021 . Retrieved September 1, 2021.

Hunter S. Thompson (2/23/05)". December 26, 2006. December 27, 2006. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012 . Retrieved August 3, 2012. a b Thompson, Hunter (1998). Douglas Brinkley (ed.). The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman (1sted.). Ballantine Books. p.139. ISBN 0-345-37796-6.a b c James, Randy (August 3, 2009). "A Brief History of the Hells Angels". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022 . Retrieved December 18, 2020. In December 1943, when Thompson was six years old, the family settled in the affluent Cherokee Triangle neighborhood of The Highlands. [9] On July 3, 1952, when Thompson was 14, his father died of myasthenia gravis at age 58. Hunter and his brothers were raised by their mother. Virginia worked as a librarian to support her children and was described as a "heavy drinker" following her husband's death. [6] [10] Education [ edit ] Thompson's high-school senior portrait A number of critics have commented that as he grew older, the line that distinguished Thompson from his literary self became increasingly blurred. [77] [78] [79] Thompson admitted during a 1978 BBC interview that he sometimes felt pressured to live up to the fictional self that he had created, adding, "I'm never sure which one people expect me to be. Very often, they conflict— most often, as a matter of fact.... I'm leading a normal life and right alongside me there is this myth, and it is growing and mushrooming and getting more and more warped. When I get invited to, say, speak at universities, I'm not sure if they are inviting Duke or Thompson. I'm not sure who to be." [80]

Schevitz, Terry (February 5, 2005). "HUNTER S. THOMPSON: 1937-2005 / Original gonzo journalist kills self at age 67 / 'Fear and Loathing' author, ex-columnist for S.F. Examiner dies of gunshot wound". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012 . Retrieved June 1, 2018.Thompson attended I.N. Bloom Elementary School, [12] Highland Middle School, and Atherton High School, before transferring to Louisville Male High School in fall 1952. [13] Also in 1952, he was accepted as a member of the Athenaeum Literary Association, a school-sponsored literary and social club that dated to 1862. Its members at the time came from Louisville's upper-class families, and included Porter Bibb, who became the first publisher of Rolling Stone at Thompson's behest. During this time, Thompson read and admired J.P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man. [14] In 1975, Wenner assigned Thompson to travel to Vietnam to cover what appeared to be the end of the Vietnam War. Thompson arrived in Saigon just as South Vietnam was collapsing and as other journalists were leaving the country. Wenner allegedly canceled Thompson's medical insurance, which strained Thompson's relationship with Rolling Stone. [53] He soon fled the country and refused to file his report until the ten-year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. [53] Wenner, writing in 2022, denied the claims that he cancelled Thompson's insurance, saying that Thompson spent most of his time in Saigon obsessing over evacuation plans. Thompson filed an unfinished dispatch that Wenner described "strong and promising, but nothing substantial." He then took a commercial flight to Bangkok where he met his wife for what Wenner described as a few weeks of "totally undeserved rest and recreation." While in Thailand, Thompson had a custom brass door plaque made that read "Rolling Stone: Global Affairs Suite. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" marked with a map of the world and two lightning bolts. "That was it," Wenner wrote. "No story. Just that plaque." [45] Thompson later finished the story in time for the 10-year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. [53] CI: Gonzo Foundation Scholarship Fund". ci.uky.edu. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020 . Retrieved June 19, 2020. Edwards, Peter (June 27, 2018). "Outlaw bikers say they're loyal to Harley-Davidson, even as Trump's trade policies push the company to look overseas". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023 . Retrieved July 1, 2023. There are only two adjectives writers care about any more - "brilliant" and "outrageous" - and Hunter has a freehold on both of them' Tom Wolfe

As of December 2013 [update], the Hells Angels sells its branded merchandise at a retail store in Toronto, Ontario. [73] George Harrison's memo to Apple staff about the Hell's Angels, 4 December 1968". Beatlesbible.com. December 4, 1968. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014 . Retrieved November 6, 2013.Shootings weren’t exactly commonplace but they did happen. Paterson recalls seeing a young guy with his guts hanging out on Chelsea Bridge. He’d been shot by a Hells Angel because his gang, the Road Rats, had refused to join them.

Hells Angels bikers banned by Netherlands court". BBC News. May 29, 2019. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 . Retrieved May 30, 2019. Thompson's output declined from the mid-1970s, as he struggled with the consequences of fame, and complained that he could no longer merely report on events, as he was too easily recognized. After several high-profile stories were quashed by the upper management of Rolling Stone, he found it increasingly difficult to get his work into mainstream outlets. He did continue to write for alternative newspapers, working as a columnist for the mainstream San Francisco Examiner for much of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of his work from 1979 to 1994 was collected in The Gonzo Papers. He continued to write sporadically for various outlets, including Rolling Stone, Playboy, Esquire and ESPN.com until the end of his life.Thompson spent the next year preparing for the new book in close quarters with the Hells Angels, in particular the San Francisco and Oakland chapters of the club and their president Ralph "Sonny" Barger. Thompson was upfront with the Angels about his role as a journalist, a dangerous move given their marked distrust of reporters from what the club considered to be bad press. Thompson was introduced to the gang by Birney Jarvis, a former club member and then police-beat reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. This introduction, coming from an Angel and reporter, allowed Thompson to get close to the gang in a way others had not been able. [ citation needed] Thompson's residence during the Hell's Angels period at 318 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco The book details Thompson's experiences living with the Hells Angels, a notorious motorcycle club in California. The author spent over a year embedded with one chapter, learning their unique subculture and immersing himself in their lifestyle. He recounts his time spent traveling through California by motorcycle, and describes the contrast between the general lawlessness of the club and the exaggerated fear that very lawlessness engenders in society. [10] Thompson, Hunter S. (July 21, 1983). "Hunter S. Thompson: A Dog Took My Place". Rolling Stone . Retrieved December 12, 2022.