As a young journalist, Thompson worked everywhere from Jersey Shore to South America. Thompson worked for numerous publications such as sports magazines and weekly newspapers. He practiced writing by typing “The Great Gatsby,” and Ernest Hemingway’s “A Fairwell to Arms.” Thompson also began writing two novels of his own during this period, “Prince Jellyfish,” and “The Rum Diaries.” At the time, no publisher wanted either of these novels. Thompson kept on working and even found time for love. In 1963, Thompson married his sweetheart Sandra Conklin and had a son. Juan Fitzgerald Thompson was born on March 23, 1964.The proud father and writer caught his first big break in 1966 with the publishing of his first novel, “Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.” The book is about Thompson’s experienes spending time riding and living with the Hells Angels. ( A reveiwer for The New York Times praised it as an “angry, knowledgeable, fascinating and excitedly written book,” that shows the Hell’s Angels “not so much as dropouts from society but as total misfits, or unfits-emotionally, intellectually and educationally unfit to achieve the rewards, such as they are, that the contemporary social order offers.” The reveiwer also praised Thompson as a “spirited, witty, observant and original writer; his prose crackles like motorcycle exhaust.” ) Thompson wrote about many outrageous events that happened while hanging out with the gang of outlaws. He gave an overall description of the gang as being, “ The hard core, the outlaw elite, were the Hell’s Angels… wearing the winged death’s-head on the back of their sleeveless jackets and packing their “mamas” behind them on big “chopped hogs.” They rode with a fine unwashed arrogance, secure in their reputation as the rottenest motorcycle gang in the whole history of Christendom.” Thompson never bought in to the fame of being a member of the Hell’s Angels. Instead, he saw the gang for what it truly was and gave his own opinion of the gang. “A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit — no matter how often he's reminded of it — that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley... Very few toads in this world are Prince Charmings in disguise. Most are simply toads... and they are going to stay that way... Toads don't make laws or change any basic structures, but one or two rooty insights can work powerful changes in the way they get through life. A toad who believes he got a raw deal before he even knew who was dealing will usually be sympathetic to the mean, vindictive ignorance that colors the Hell's Angels' view of humanity. There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the random revenge that comes with outraging the public decency.” Thompson eventually broke ties with the Hell’s Angels. However, he received a brutal beating by some of the gang members because they thought Thompson was profiting off of their story without paying them royalties. So, Thompson packed his bags and moved his family to Woody Creek, Colorado where he resided for the rest of his life.
Thompson went on with his life and writings. By this time he was becoming more and more popular and his writing style was labled as Gonzo. “ The first use of the word Gonzo to describe Thompson’s work is credited to the journalist Bill Cardoso. Cardoso had first met Thompson on a full bus of journalists covering the 1968 New Hampshire Primary. In 1970, Cardoso wrote Thompson praising the “Kentucky Derby” piece in Scanlan’s Monthly as a breakthrough: “This is it, this is pure Gonzo. If this is a start, keep rolling.” Thompson took to the word right away, and according to illustrator Ralph Steadman said “Okay, that’s what I do. Gonzo.”
The best-selling and most popular Gonzo-style writing of Thompson’s is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This book takes you right along with Thompson on a wild and drug induced trip to the city that never sleeps. The trip to Las Vegas was ment for Thompson to report on a narcotics officers’ convention and the “Fabulous Mint 400” dirtbike race. What started as a short trip turned into something else entirely. Although he was there for a race, Thompson had the means to do as he pleased, and had slightly different plans in mind. This book is like a loose journal of the trip, and parts of it are so far fetched they must be fiction, or were they? “The sporting editors had also given me $300 in cash, most of which was already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. “We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug-collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.”
