HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD 20 YEARS AGO!

HSTs private physician

Uproarious fun . . . E. Jean Carrolls wacko-wanton biography
is the only way to throw a net over the cavorting career of
Doctor Thompson . . . Carroll . . . out-gonzos the master.
Albuquerque Journal
Crisply edited reminiscences of his friends. . . .
Entertainment Weekly
Carrolls approach is novel . . . its gonzo biography.
Indianapolis Star
A hilarious version of Sades Justine . . . Echoes her wild
subject well, while framing some serious interviews with drug
dealers, politicians, childhood friends and, notably, Thompsons
ex-wife.
San Francisco Chronicle
Her style is as outrageously entertaining as Dr. Gonzo
himself. . . .
Denver Post
Carrolls intervieweesincluding Thompsons brother, mother,
ex-girlfriend, ex-wife, colleagues, even George McGovern
offer many interesting observations on her subjects alienated
youth, writing style, celebrityhood, behavior and journalistic
influence.
Publishers Weekly

FOR A LESSON IN DECADENCE, ALL BEGINNING

WRITERS SHOULD READ . . . Hunter: The Strange and
Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson, written by his friend
(and hot-tub companion) E. Jean Carroll.
Bazaar
Author E. Jean Carroll tracked down Thompsons friends,
relatives, and enemies, and got them to talk about the mad
doctor. . . . Though hilariously funny, this book has substance.
Fans of Hunter S. Thompson will find Carrolls biography
indispensable.
Arlington Old Town Crier
A highly imaginative biography that is a smooth, fast-paced
look at an American icon. So read the damn thing. Its
worth it.
Idaho State University Bengal
Extremely well-researched and loaded with media gossip.
Express Books
For Thompsons fans . . . nothing is going to top E. Jean
Carrolls Hunter . . . excellent . . . flashy and well-sustained.
Rocky Mountain News
Hunter ought to contend for every non-fiction writing award
given. . . .
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A FAST AND FUNNY READ . . . NOT FOR THE FAINT

OF HEART.
Seattle Times
Terrifying and hilarious . . . It has to rank as one of the most
readable biographies yet done on anyone. . . . A Renoir meets
Dali meets Tom Robbins.
Louisville Eccentric Observer
She shows his life as one long prowl for drugs, women, booze,
and fame . . . Thompson is a full-blown lunatic from the first
chapter to the last.
St. Louis Riverfront Times
Outrageous! Call the authorities. This sort of book can only
lead to a general undermining of the whole time-hallowed
majesty of biography . . . and ipso facto, our American
civilization.
Albuquerque Sunday Observer
Hunter is to other biographies what the Harlem Globetrotters
are to Athletes for Christ.
Tom Robbins

The Strange and Savage Life of

Hunter S. Thompson

Published by 1500 Books

Warwick, New York

Copyright E. Jean Carroll, 1993
New Stuff E. Jean Carroll, 2010
All rights reserved.
This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover
edition plus some spanking new material by the author.
PUBLISHING HISTORY

Dutton edition, 1993

Plume paperbound edition, 1993
A portion appeared in Esquire Magazine, 1993
1500 Books revised edition, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-933698-36-6
ebook ISBN: 978-1-933698-37-3
First Printing

C O N T E N T S

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Selected Annotated Bibliography of works
by and about Hunter S. Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Authors Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Authors Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

F O R E W O R D

Back in the 20th Century, people were frightened of Hunters

book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. They worried about his
iconic status and his journalisms effect on youth.
I dont see any effect. Do you? When was the last time you saw
a youth do anything more iconoclastic than defriend someone
unattractive on Facebook?
Right.
Generation Y needs some pointers on tapping into their Inner
Hunter. So does Generation X, for that matter, and, lets not
forget my own decrepit generation. So here you go, you dullards!
You panty-waists! Turn off your iPhones and reach down deep.
Its time to start living!

7 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Hunter

1. DRUGS. Get Off Your Ritalin and Adderall. The whole
point of life is to enjoy your Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder.
2. WARDROBE. You Need a Hat. Accessorize with a vicious
Doberman, a clove cigarette in a holder, tinted aviators, tennis
shorts-in-the-dead-of-winter and a womans wig with blonde
limpy curls.
3. WHISKEY. Never Drink at Work. Leave work to get drunk.
4. SEX. Pretend to Listen to Women Very Closely. It turns
them to mush faster than looks, money, or fame.
5. FOOD. Breakfast Is Sacred. Eat it alone, and never before
3:00 p.m. It should consist of two grapefruits (the secret of
longevity!), six cups of coffee, two tall glasses orange juice,
scrambled eggs with hot sauce, cheese and chilies, four rashers
of bacon, refried beans, hot-buttered toast, two or three

xii

E. Jean Carroll

wedges of key lime pie, a couple of margaritas, all the papers,

ESPN, and a half-a-grinder of cocaine.
6. TALK. Mumble so no one can understand you. If they
cannot understand you, you can ignore them.
7. DEATH. Dont be concerned whether your books will live
onthey will diethe trick is for you to live on.
Of course, Hunter shot himself on February 20th, 2005,
so there were times when not even he could tap into his inner
Hunter.
Because of health problems he could no longer walk, throw
bombs in the Woody Creek Tavern, or swim. The note he left
read: No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No
More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17
more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No
Funfor anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age.
RelaxThis wont hurt.
So. You are about to read the new edition of Laetitia Snaps
famous biography of Hunter S. Thompson.
Miss Tishy, though an intelligent person and a celebrated
ornithologist, has approximately 1/79th the writing talent of
young Doctor Thompson. We are faced with the old conundrum:
Great writers deserve great biographies; but the person has not
yet been born with the skills to write about Hunter.
P.S. Miss Tishy has written an epilogue (see page 343). As
youve no doubt heard, her assertion that Hunter Thompson
is still alive and living in the Punjab is causing a storm in the
blogosphere. Ignore it.

E. Jean Carroll

Hunter

xiii

E P I L O G U E

Handsome Reader! Forsooth! It is I, Tishy. After the Doctor

supposedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the
head, but before the film actor, Johnny Depp, created a diversion
by rocketing the Doctors ashes into the sky atop a 153-foot
tower in the shape of a fist clutching a peyote buttonand here
permit me to pause and ask why the noble, most agreeable, most
beautiful Mr. Depp would pay $1,200,000 to shoot an old button
into the air as a cover story?
It is a mystery to your Tishy, Reader!
I say, before Mr. Depp perpetrated this deceitful memorial
and forced me against my will to attend the festivities where
I was compelled to sit between those two wicked men, Jack
Nicholson and Bill Murray, both of whom abandoned themselves
to infamies against my thighs, before that I say, the Doctorwho
did accidentally shoot himselfthe Doctor and I secretly ran
away to the Punjab.
It was there, in Pakistan, in a secret Valley of the Punjab
that I found the highly-potent bile of the Pavo cristatus (Indian
Peafowl), which, after repeated applications to the Doctors
wound, restored the Doctors brain to 87% of its original. A side
effecta miracle!the Doctor is now growing a full head of
hair, each strand as thick as his black plastic cigarette holder!
Oh! What a man! Great God!

A U T H O RS

NOTE

Miss Maura Wogan, the publishers lawyer and partner in the

august firm of Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein and Selz, has threatened
to flog me with a bulls pizzle if I do not state that Laetitia Snap
is a fictitious character and that some of the incidents Snap
said happened, did not.
E. Jean Carroll

A U T H O RS

POSTSCRIPT

Oh, indeed?
Laetitia Snap, Ph.D

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