Hunter S. Thompson

Wild, eccentric and fueled by copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson emerged from the 1960s as the pioneer of gonzo journalism-a style of reporting, in which he injected himself into a story and allowed his drug-addled and often criminal behavior to become its focus. But his stories were more than mere first person reportage - they became mind-bending excursions into the heart of darkness of America. Whether it was riding with the Hell's Angels or barreling toward Las Vegas in a red Cadillac with the top down and a trunk full of booze and drugs, Thompson cut open the underbelly of the American Dream with his obsidian prose and in the process became the scourge of some, the hero of many and one of the great American writers of the 20th century.