# 28 FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 72
| Author : | Hunter S. Thompson LOUISVILLE, KY |
| Artist : | Cissy Hamilton and Sylvia Cerel-Suhl LEXINGTON, KY |
| Sponsor : | Smiley Pete Publishing |
Hunter Thompson (1937-2005): Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72
Louisville, Ky., native Hunter S. Thompson is credited with being the creator of Gonzo Journalism, defined as a style of journalism without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as a first-person protagonist and narrator of the story. Thompson got his first exposure to journalism as a sports reporter for an Air Force newspaper at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He then worked a series of jobs at a variety of small-town newspapers, as well as serving a short stint as a copy boy at Time Magazine, until his break came when his landmark article “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” was published in the June, 1970, issue of Scanlan Monthly. Thompson’s 1973 collection of articles on the 1972 presidential campaign in the book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, were first serialized in Rolling Stone Magazine and satirically chronicled the sometimes-tumultuous events leading up to the nominations of Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat George McGovern.
Cissy Hamilton and Sylvia Cerel-Suhl:
BOOKBENCHESLEX.ORG
Our inspiration to create a bench for Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 came from the absurd American political process that the book’s author, Hunter S. Thompson, discovered in the 1972 election. We were struck by similarities with the current political climate. Cissy Hamilton is a painter with a studio in Artists Attic. Sylvia Cerel-Suhl is a community artist and educator.