The dean of California historians, Kevin Starr, calls this 43-hour interview with journalist and iconoclast Warren Hinckle "rambling, discursive, opinionated, outrageous"—not surprising words given the reputation of the interviewee. Starr also recognizes this interview as a "brilliant first-person evocation of the life and times" of Hinckle—also not surprising given the broad range of topics discussed at sometimes great length and with often profound erudition in this interview.
Conducted between 2009 and 2012 by ROHO's senior interviewer, Lisa Rubens, this interview covers the full swath of Hinckle’s life and his countless projects. The cast of characters that appear in this interview is just mesmerizing: from Vivian Vance to Hunter S. Thompson, from Marshall McLuhan to the Mitchell Brothers, from Roy Cohn to Eldridge Cleaver—not to mention just about every major and minor actor to cross the stage of San Francisco politics since the 1950s. Hinckle, of course, also sets the record straight about just how and when gonzo journalism got its start.
Pour yourself a Scotch, neat, and immerse yourself in this remarkable oral history.
Title
Warren Hinckle: Journalist, Editor, Publisher, Iconoclast
Published
Berkeley, CA, Regional Oral History Office, 2013
Full Collection Name
Arts and Letters Oral Histories Individual Interviews
Type
Text
Archive
The Bancroft Library Oral History Center
Note
Hinckle, Warren. "Warren Hinckle: Journalist, Editor, Publisher, Iconoclast." Interview by Lisa Rubens in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013.
Interview date(s) 2009
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