The Untold Truth Of Hunter S. Thompson

Posted by Martina Birk on Thursday, May 2, 2024

The "Freak Power" movement was not just a stunt; in his book Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff, Daniel Joseph Watkins notes that Thompson returned from covering the 1968 Democratic Convention "disgusted yet motivated by what he'd seen: protests violently suppressed, riots, corrupt politicians and abusive cops." Freak Power's idea was to "take control of Aspen and transform it from a conservative mining town into a mecca for artists, rebels and activists." Thompson, reported Rolling Stone, was a "self-described political junkie." 

After "The Battle of Aspen," Thompson sent Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner the opening of an article he'd been working on: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold," his lede for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Thompson's signature work had begun as a 250-word assignment from Sports Illustrated on the Mint 400 motorcycle race. Thompson instead turned in 2,500 words about "a savage journey into the heart of the American dream." Unsurprisingly, Sports Illustrated rejected the story "along with his expenses," but Rolling Stone not only accepted the story but sent Thompson back to Las Vegas to expand the piece, "reporting on the National District Attorneys Association's Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs." The "hilarious and electrifying" article ran in two parts, complete with Steadman illustrations. It was published as a book in 1972, and adapted into a 1998 movie starring Johnny Depp as Thompson.

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