Hunter S. Thompson, 1937-2005

Hunter S. Thompson's son found his father's body, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, in his fortified compound in Colorado. Hardly anybody has any details yet, but WaPo offers an obituary that has something to say about gonzo journalism. Until the other papers and newsmagazines catch up, there's always Wikipedia and, I did not realize until now, Thompson's own column for ESPN.com. And, from a 2003 interview with Salon:

"I don't have to apologize for any political judgments I've made. The stuff I wrote in the '60s and '70s was astonishingly accurate. I may have been a little rough on Nixon, but he was rough. You had to do it with him. What you believe has to be worth something. I've never given it a lot of thought: I've never hired people to figure out what I should do about my image. I always work the same way, and talk the same way, and I've been right enough that I stand by my record."

photo: Michael Brands/AP