A book chapter for Fear and Loathing Worldwide: Gonzo Journalism Beyond Hunter S. Thompson (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018).
In the digital age, the term “Gonzo” has become the branding equivalent of the little black dress, a workable description for any journalist whose prose style is accented by hyperbole, profanity, and chemicals. This chapter chronicles how Thompson’s bad-boy side came to overshadow his literary contributions in today’s digital media. It examines how some contemporary writers are called Gonzo for the look-at-me quality of their journalism, not for scaling the borders of their profession in provocative ways, as Thompson did in the 1970s, forcing cultural examination.
