Peter Richardson (writer)

Peter Richardson (born 1959) is an American author, teacher, and editor whose work focuses on the San Francisco counterculture and political journalism. His publications include books about Rolling Stone magazine, Hunter S. Thompson, the Grateful Dead, Ramparts magazine, and Carey McWilliams. A Wall Street Journal book review commended Richardson's "superb grasp of 1960s Bay Area culture."[1]

Life and Career

Richardson grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. After teaching medieval literature at the University of North Texas, he accepted an editorial position at the Public Policy Institute of California in 1999.

In 2005, Richardson became the founding editorial director at PoliPoint Press, where he acquired and developed books on progressive politics and current affairs. In that position, he edited Sasha Abramsky, Rose Aguilar, Dean Baker, Jeff Cohen, Marjorie Cohn, Joe Conason, Kevin Danaher, Belva Davis, Reese Erlich, Steven Hill, Phillip Longman, Markos Moulitsas, David Neiwert, Christine Pelosi, Sarah Posner, William Rivers Pitt, Nomi Prins, Norman Solomon, and Curtis White. One PoliPoint Press book, The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War, was the basis for Official Secrets, the 2019 film starring Keira Knightley.[2][3]

In 2006, Richardson began teaching at San Francisco State University, where his courses focused on California culture.[4] He retired from that position in 2023.

Richardson's biography of radical author and editor Carey McWilliams appeared in 2005. Writing for The Nation, Mike Davis called American Prophet a "superb new biography."[5][6][7]

Richardson's 2009 book about Ramparts magazine was an Editors' Choice at The New York Times.[8] Reviewing the book for that newspaper, Jack Shafer claimed that it "satisfies on every level."[9] In 2018, Meagan Day summarized the book in a Jacobin magazine article called "When Ramparts Reigned."[10]

Richardson's 2015 book about the Grateful Dead was an Editors' Pick at Amazon and a national bestseller.

Richardson's 2022 book about Hunter S. Thompson received favorable reviews in the Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement, and Alta Journal.[1][11] He discussed it on C-SPAN's Book TV with David Talbot and on CBS News with Nicole Killion.[12]

In one interview, Richardson said he thought his books about Ramparts, the Grateful Dead, and Hunter Thompson formed "an informal trilogy about the San Francisco counterculture."[13]

Richardson's book about the first decade of Rolling Stone magazine was published in 2026. One review called it "a master class in how to tell the story of a cultural icon."[14] In his public remarks, Richardson referred to that book as the fourth volume in his San Francisco trilogy.

Richardson's articles have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and many scholarly journals. His cultural commentary has been featured in major newspapers and magazines in North America and abroad. [15][16][17][18][19][20] He has been interviewed for several documentary films as well as on television programs, radio shows, and podcasts.[21]

In 2013, Richardson received the National Entertainment Journalism Award for Online Criticism. From 2015 to 2020, he served on the board of the Bay Area Book Festival, where he also organized and moderated panels on politics, history, music, and sports.

Books

  • Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine (University of California Press, 2026) ISBN 978-0-520-39939-6
  • Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo (University of California Press, 2022) ISBN 978-0-520-30492-5
  • No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead (St. Martin's Press, 2015) ISBN 978-1-250-01062-9
  • A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America (The New Press, 2009) ISBN 978-1-59558-439-7
  • American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams (University of Michigan Press, 2005; University of California Press, 2019) ISBN 978-0-520-30429-1

References

  1. 1 2 Shull, Benjamin (2022-03-03). "'Savage Journey' Review: Hunter S. Thompson's Wild Ride". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  2. ↑ Marcia Mitchell & Thomas Mitchell, The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion (2008).
  3. ↑ Mottram, James. "'Official Secrets': the story of the British spy who tried to stop a war". The National. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  4. ↑ "About Peter Richardson | Peter Richardson | SF State Faculty Sites". faculty.sfsu.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-01-24. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  5. ↑ Davis, Mike (2005-09-01). "Optimism of the Will". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  6. ↑ Julian, Kate (2006-03-12). "The conscience of California". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  7. ↑ Weinberg, Reviewed by Steve (2005-12-18). "A lost voice worth rediscovering". SFGATE. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  8. ↑ "Editors' Choice". The New York Times. 2009-10-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  9. ↑ Shafer, Jack (2009-10-09). "Scoop". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  10. ↑ Meagan Day, "When Ramparts Reigned," Jacobin, May 23, 2018
  11. ↑ "The Weird Turn Pro". Alta Online. 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  12. ↑ "Savage Journey". C-SPAN.org. Archived from the original on 2023-08-08. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  13. ↑ Leonard, Aaron J. (2022-01-23). "Peter Richardson on Hunter S. Thompson and the Long Shadow of the Counterculture". HNN. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  14. ↑ "Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine | Washington Independent Review of Books". www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  15. ↑ "San Francisco Democrats are embracing "law and order" politics". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  16. ↑ George, Lynell (2019-03-24). "Op-Ed: Celebrating 100 years of Lawrence Ferlinghetti". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  17. ↑ Talbot, By David (2017-05-14). "The Bay Area is still a literary haven from the mad digital world". SFGATE. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  18. ↑ Vest, Jason (2022-05-10). "The gonzo journalist who forever changed political campaign coverage". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  19. ↑ "Streit über Victor Arnautoffs George-Washington-Fresko". FAZ.NET (in German). 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  20. ↑ Smith, Harrison (2016-08-30). "Warren Hinckle, editor of the swaggering 1960s magazine Ramparts, dies at 77". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  21. ↑ Robert Scheer: Above the Fold (2019), Manson: Music From an Unsound Mind (2019), Days of Rage: The Rolling Stones' Road to Altamont (2020), Monster: The Zodiac Killer (2019), Myth of the Zodiac Killer (2023), and "La San Francisco d'Hunter Thompson," Invitation au Voyage, ARTE TV (2024).
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