Savage Journey is a "supremely crafted" study of Hunter S. Thompson´s literary formation and achievement. Focusing on Thompson´s influences, development, and unique model of authorship, Savage Journey argues that his literary formation was largely a San Francisco story. During the 1960s, Thompson rode with the Hell´s Angels, explored the San Francisco counterculture, and met talented editors who shared his dissatisfaction with mainstream journalism. Author Peter Richardson traces Thompson´s transition during this time from New Journalist to cofounder of Gonzo journalism. He also endorses Thompson´s later claim that he was one of the best writers using the English language as both a musical instrument and a political weapon. Although Thompson´s political commentary was often hyperbolic, Richardson shows that much of it was also prophetic.

Fifty years after the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and more than a decade after his death, Thompson´s celebrity continues to obscure his literary achievement. This book refocuses our understanding of that achievement by mapping Thompson´s influences, probing the development of his signature style, and tracing the reception of his major works. It concludes that Thompson was not only a gifted journalist, satirist, and media critic, but also the most distinctive American voice in the second half of the twentieth century.