The Wizard of Weirdness: Hunter S. Thompson and the The Great Shark Hunt

I'm proud to say that a writer once cost me a job.  At one time, the U. S. Air Force  thought of making me a journalist so I could write for base newspapers.  I had passed all the tests easily and was interviewing with an editor of one of the largest papers in the command, a young Sargent in love with uniform creases and rules.  We were talking about veterans of various branches who became successful writers and I mentioned liking the work of an Air Force veteran named Hunter S. Thompson.  Steam poured out of the editor's ears.  "Thompson?" he squeaked, "Thompson!   My college invited him to our Controversial Speakers forum and he showed up stoned!!"   Internally I had two thoughts: 1) Well, yeah, everyone knows Hunter hates doing those speaker gigs, he's going to show up wrecked and 2) I believe I just blew this  interview.   The next day, the Air Force decided I would be a better Supply Clerk than Reporter and ended my adventures in Journalism.  I didn't care.  To be rejected because of liking Hunter Thompson's writing is a badge of honor for me, and I've missed his wild, unpredictable forays since his death in 2005.

Hunter is best remembered today as the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but if you want a collection of his work that stands on its own, read The Great Shark Hunt. It includes excerpts from some of HST's longer works (Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, The Hell's Angels, etc.) and reprints of some of his incredible essays. Each piece shows Thompson's patented Gonzo journalism (where the author gets involved with the story and reports on the story, his involvement and the crazy things that happen) and his view of the world: a combination of moral outrage, amazement, eloquence,sardonic humor and integrity made each essay a treasure.

It seems strange to associate the word integrity with Hunter S. Thompson, considering his well-earned reputation for chaos, but Thompson always wrote about life exactly as he saw it, from seeking and revealing the worst of humanity in "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" and "Strange Rumblings in Azatlan" to a hilarious account of following Jimmy Carter and his Secret Service agents through a Law Day function in Athens, Georgia.  The title essay captures the paranoia, fear, hilarity and exhaustion of drug-addled writer trying to cover a fishing tournament. and the genuinely mournful "The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat." recounts the chaotic life and strange disappearance of his friend, Oscar Acosta.  Hunter never shies away from his friend's faults because Hunter made it a policy never to shy away from anything when he wrote. He went for the extremes, grabbed for high, bright edges of reality in every experience and ignored all the margins. It was his way of articulating the truth, as he saw it. No word was off-limits, no person beyond reproach, if that was part of the story. Consequently, his writing offended almost all of the right people; the rest were offended by his existence.

If the world holds less potential since Thompson's passing, it is only because his writing enriched it so much during his life. The Great Shark Hunt is a mother-lode of words from one of the most outraged and original voices of the last century.  That Air Force editor can choke on his uniform creases. You enjoy the book.