In his look at Outlaw Journalist, Jonathan Yardly of the Washington Post gives a sympathetic review of Hunter Thompson's life. As to Outlaw Journalist author William McKeen, Yardly writes: "A professor of journalism at the University of Florida, he is susceptible to moments of Hunter-worship -- his preface is an embarrassment -- but manages to tell Thompson's story in a straightforward way. Certainly, he gets it all in: the boozing and drugging, the histrionics, the womanizing, the violence, but also the intelligence, the loyalty, the inherent decency."
Yardly's 'embarrassment' comment is rather unfair to Bill McKeen. Having read Mr. McKeen's preface, I say that Yardly has apparently lost the ability to recognize truthful, plain language describing the gut-punch that is delivered when someone you know, who is really special, dies unexpectedly. Living a thin life, Mr. Yardly?
