Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hunter S. Thompson was an American journalist and author who lived from the 18th of July 1937 to the 20th of February 2005. He is regarded as a pioneer of New Journalism and the creator of Gonzo journalism, and is best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell's Angels.
Gonzo journalism is a style in which the writer becomes central to and a participant in the narrative, blurring the line between fact and fiction. Thompson first used the techniques in his 1970 article "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" for Scanlan's Monthly, and journalist Bill Cardoso coined the label by praising it as "pure Gonzo".
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is narrated by Raoul Duke and his "300-pound Samoan attorney" as they chase the American Dream while heavily intoxicated. Rolling Stone serialized it in two parts in November 1971 and Random House published the book in 1972; a New York Times reviewer called it "the best book yet written on the decade of dope".
Thompson ran for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, in 1970 on the "Freak Power" ticket, proposing to decriminalize drugs for personal use, turn streets into pedestrian malls, disarm police, and rename Aspen "Fat City". He lost the race, carrying the city of Aspen but taking only 44% of the county-wide vote.
Hunter S. Thompson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at 5:42 pm on the 20th of February 2005 at Owl Farm, his compound in Woody Creek, Colorado, at the age of 67. In January 2026 the Colorado Bureau of Investigation concluded there was no evidence his death was anything other than suicide.
On the 20th of August 2005, Thompson's ashes were fired from a cannon atop a 153-foot tower shaped like a double-thumbed fist clutching a peyote button. The roughly $3 million private funeral was funded by Johnny Depp and drew an estimated 280 people, including Ralph Steadman and Senators John Kerry and George McGovern.
Thompson covered the 1972 presidential election for Rolling Stone and collected the work as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 in early 1973. He supported George McGovern, and campaign director Frank Mankiewicz called the account the "most accurate and least factual" of the race.