Hunter and the Hunted

The late Hunter S. Thompson, never a predictable character, surprised even his most ardent fans when he took up the cause of Lisl Auman, a Colorado woman sentenced to life without parole after Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt was killed in 1997 by her white-supremacist friend — after she had already detained in a police car. Thompson’s public and passionate protests were undercut by a cruel irony: The legendary gonzo journalist died just weeks before Auman’s conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court.

Still, Boulder-based writer Matthew L. Moseley — author of Dear Dr. Thompson: Felony Murder, Hunter S. Thompson, and the Last Gonzo Campaign — wants to make it clear that his book is the story of a young woman’s struggle for justice as much as it is a document of the last years of one of America’s most outrageous activists.

“This book is unique because no one else has shown Hunter at work as a campaign strategist in his last and greatest crusade — one that freed a young woman from prison,” says Moseley. “But it isn’t about Hunter per se. He’s a character in a much larger drama that unfolded in the Colorado criminal justice system. This book isn’t about a lifestyle of drugs and guns, but chronicles a media and communications campaign, so it’s as much a political book as anything else.”

Moseley will discuss and sign Dear Dr. Thompson tonight at 7 p.m. at Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street; the event is free. For info, call 303-436-1070 or visit www.tatteredcover.com.

Tue., June 15, 7:30 p.m., 2010