Tag: Anita Thompson

Congrats to Anita! Her book, The Gonzo Way, on her late husband Hunter S. Thompson, has won the Grand Prize at the London Book Festival.

She will accept the award in person on Dec. 18. Background on the book is here.

There's also a very interesting interview with Anita in the Sunday Scotsman Herald, which as a result of the final few paragraphs, has been noted by Esquire, Gawker, Britain's First Post and our local news.

As to Gonzo Way:

“The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” written by his wife, Anita Thompson, is the grand prize winner of the 2008 London Book Festival.

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The visuals in this video are the point of it.

I've been feeling sad that our good Dr. Hunter S. Thompson will not be in Denver next week to share in the craziness. I sure will miss reading his take on the whole scene.

My good friend Anita Thompson, Hunter's wife, who has been spending fall and winter in NYC to attend and study journalism at Columbia, is now blogging, in addition to her excellent Owl Farm Blog, at The Huffington Post. How'd that come about? [More..]

Rolling Stone Magazine is turning 40. It just released its first digital issue. I was a teenager when it first came out and read it religiously. I subscribed for years. I still read it from time to time.

So, it's painful for me to see there's been a brouhaha in the media this week about Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour's biography of Hunter Thompson. For a quick recap, check out:

• This NY Daily News article
• The LA Times Review which really hurt Hunter's wife, Anita Thompson
• This Washington Times article defending Hunter's later writing and Anita
• Anita responding on her Owl Farm Blog.

I'm not going to slam Wenner's book, I haven't read the whole thing -- just the 8 pages of excerpts in Rolling Stone last month, which I read on an airplane and enjoyed. Even Anita says there's some good stuff in the book.

But Anita very much disagrees with Wenner's characterization of Hunter (see the LA Times review)at the end of his life, his criticism of Hunter's ESPN reporting and the impression he gives that Hunter did nothing worthwhile after leaving Rolling Stone.

On Hunter's ESPN reporting, his activism and the impact he made during the final years of his life, I feel qualified to weigh in and I'm going to side strongly with Anita (and not just because she's my friend.)

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The Associated Press has a very intimate and honest interview today with Hunter Thompson's wife, Anita. The occasion is the recent release of her new book, The Gonzo Way, which I wrote about here at 5280.

In her new book, "The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," Thompson says her husband built his career with a tireless dedication to the craft of reporting, a keen awareness of his own shortcomings and his personal blend of patriotism: loving his country while mistrusting authority.

And in a wide-ranging interview, she spoke about a rift between her and Hunter Thompson's son and the agonizing doubts that dogged her in the days after her husband's suicide.

Anita has become a good friend of mine since Hunter's death -- I hope you'll read the interview, and if you're a fan of Hunter's writing, get the book. If you missed my recap of spending a weekend in June at Owl Farm, you can read it here. My video of Owl Farm from 2006 is here.)

Also check out Anita's Owl Farm blog. Here's a photo I took of Anita and Hunter's son, Juan.