Hunter S. Thompson’s Résumé

“Most people try to be as polite and flattering as possible when writing a prospective employer to ask for a job. It’s really the only medium where being obsequious is seen as a virtue. But when Hunter S. Thompson applied for a job at the Vancouver Sun in 1958, the famously wild and inventive author wrote a cover letter that, like Thompson himself and the ‘gonzo journalism’ that would make him famous, broke all the rules. He is insulting, dismissive, narcissistic, and trumpets as his greatest asset the fact that his editor wrote a formal letter to the publisher complaining of the young journalist’s behavior. In short, classic Thompson.”