Joan Didion RIP

I've been thinking a lot about Joan Didion and her legacy. My misgivings about her portrait of California have been stacking up over the years, but there's no denying the achievement, and I count myself among her admirers.

In the course of writing about Hunter Thompson, I found myself writing about her, too. She reportedly didn't understand why Tom Wolfe included her work in The New Journalism (1973). "Certainly I have nothing in common with Hunter," she said. That's very true on one level, of course. Her work was cool, precise, controlled. His was fractious, hyperbolic, extravagant. But in both cases, the world revealed its meaning through their heightened perceptions.

Her journey from Goldwater girl to Reagan critic offered another point of comparison with Thompson. By the time she wrote "The Lion King" for The New York Review of Books in 1988, Thompson was no longer the scourge he was during the Nixon era. That transformation was her second act; the third was her grief work at the end of her career. She reinvented herself in a way that Thompson never did, but she never abandoned her signature style or sensibility.

There's more on all this in the Thompson book, maybe too much, but she's a great foil for him as well as a major figure.

Kevin Starr, One More Time

Years ago, Gustavo Arellano wondered why Harvey Milk condemned Kevin Starr by name in one of Milk's most important speeches. I couldn't figure it out until I went through Kevin's archive in Sacramento, found the San Francisco Examiner columns that earned Milk's wrath, and wrote an article about that. Long story short, Gustavo mentioned that piece (on his Twitter feed) in connection with his Los Angeles Times column about Archbishop Jose H. Gomez.

Some of Kevin's supporters struggled with my article. One colleague described it as a gut punch. "That's not the Kevin I knew," he told my editor. But that was the whole point of the article. Kevin effectively reinvented himself after his Examiner stint and unsuccessful bid for supervisor. That's when he started to become the great (and far less partisan) chronicler of California.

And just to be clear: The article doesn't trade in gossip or reveal any private communications. The focus is on Kevin's articles, which were published in a major newspaper, and I found the relevant ones in his archive. I was especially interested in Kevin's literary formation, or perhaps evolution would be a better term. I'm keenly aware not only of Kevin's accomplishments, but also what he did for me and many others who wanted to write about California. But Kevin doesn't need any more reflexive accolades. When it comes to writers, reading them carefully is the highest compliment we can pay.

Hunter and Oscar in the Los Angeles Review of Books

I wrote an article about Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta for the Los Angeles Review of Books. I wanted to tell the story behind "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as well as "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan." I also wanted to respond to Abby Aguirre's article on the same topic in The New Yorker.

After submitting my article, I was in touch with Abby about hers. As it turns out, she wrote a much longer draft that made many of the points I did, but her editor cut that material. So there's even more common ground between us than my article suggests. I also learned that Abby has a deep and longstanding interest in both authors. She grew up near Thompson's place in Woody Creek and was well aware of Acosta, though her opinion of him changed upon rereading his work recently. She really knows her stuff.

"Fear and Loathing" at 50

I was interviewed by Jason Bracelin for a piece about "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," whose 50th anniversary was November 11. I thought his article, which ran in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, came out well. My remarks focused mostly on the almost accidental nature of Thompson's signature work. Also the fact that, well after he created Gonzo journalism, Thompson didn't realize that it was his most valuable literary asset.

As it happened, I also had a chance to visit with Glen Ellen physician and novelist Bob Geiger this week. He and his wife Donna saw a piece about Savage Journey in the Kenwood Press and invited me over to the house. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, of course, is dedicated to Bob (and Bob Dylan). Bob showed me Thompson's inscription to his copy of the book as well as his signed copy of Oscar Acosta's The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo. I felt very lucky to meet Bob, who is now 91 years old, and am grateful to Donna for setting it up.

I thought it was odd that Rolling Stone magazine didn't mention the article's anniversary. Perhaps more than any other single article, it defines the magazine's niche in the media ecology. Moreover, the current editors claim to have been influenced by Gonzo journalism. But hey, the beat goes on.

Taibbi and Thompson

When Matt Taibbi was at Rolling Stone, he was often compared to Hunter Thompson, and for good reason. He's not the comic stylist that Thompson was, but that's a high bar. He's a much better reporter, a more dogged media critic, and a very astute reader of Thompson's work. I haven't followed him on Substack or read all the books, but I liked this assessment, which filled in some blanks for me.

I've selected an image for The Divide, which I reviewed favorably for Truthdig a while back. Here's that essay.

Thompson and Hearst

I've been noodling out articles related to the Thompson book. The idea is to raise its profile, but it's also a reminder of how many worthy stories are packed into every substantial book.

Only one of those articles has actually appeared. (I'm not counting a bit of self-promotion I produced for a local newspaper.) Publicists prefer to hold pieces until the book is available for sale, so the delay between producing and publishing these articles is fine. These days, of course, it's easy to preorder books online, so the rule isn't observed as strictly as it used to be. And I freely admit that I like to see the articles go up as quickly as possible.

That first piece has to do with Hunter Thompson and the Hearst family. I decided to write it while watching Citizen Hearst, the new PBS documentary. In the book, I show how a young Hunter Thompson tried to hire on at the San Francisco Examiner, then targeted the Hearst papers in his early journalism. In the mid-1980s, however, Thompson worked for Will Hearst at the Examiner. I also mention Thompson's later work at ESPN, where the Hearst Corporation was (and is) a major shareholder.

I sent the piece to Tim Redmond at 48 Hills, and he responded quickly and positively.

As I say, there will be more. Look for something on Thompson and Oscar Acosta later this month in the Los Angeles Review of Books, then a couple more pieces closer to the book's publication date. Those articles will run in new outlets for me, but one of them isn't new at all; in fact, it's a venerable American institution.

Glen Ellen, Hunter Thompson, and the Grateful Dead

My last post predates the first COVID lockdown, so let's forget about bringing everyone up to speed, shall we? But here are a few headlines.

We sold the house in Richmond and resettled in Glen Ellen. There's a lot to like about this little Sonoma County town, but one of them is its literary history. Jack London lived here, as did M.F.K. Fisher and Hunter Thompson. In fact, I tell the Thompson story in my forthcoming book. Which leads me to point number two.

Savage Journey is finalized, and advance copies are going out now. I'm also writing related essays for various outlets to raise the book's profile. More on all that soon, but I can tell you already that I love the cover. The publication date is in January.

In other news, the Grateful Dead audio book came out a few weeks ago. Believe me, it was no simple highway. The book came out six years ago, but St. Martin's Press reverted the audio rights only recently. My agent (Andy Ross) called Susie Bright at Audible, and we had a deal shortly after that. I VERY tentatively suggested David Gans for the narrative duties. Anything stronger would have felt presumptious, since I know very little about the audio book market, and Audible knows a lot. But as it turned out, Audible was receptive, and David was delighted to do it. He went into the studio, knocked it out, and the audio book is already out there. Selah.