Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures

by Ted Geltner · 2025

[](https://www.amazon.com/s/browse/node=9187220011?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=9dyFd&content-id=amzn1.sym.dfcfad5a-ed50-4be2-9ea1-c27db09ce1ec&pf_rd_p=dfcfad5a-ed50-4be2-9ea1-c27db09ce1ec&pf_rd_r=WD5AT8FPSHMGHVCYFS7X&pd_rd_wg=om8u1&pd_rd_r=cd76f964-25f1-4548-a5cb-0ae241959279) * [Books](https://www.amazon.com/books-used-books-textbooks/b?ie=UTF8&node=283155) * › * [Biographies & Memoirs](https://www.amazon.com/Biographies-Memoirs-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=2) * › * [Arts & Literature](https://www.amazon.com/Arts-Literature-Biographies-Memoirs-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=2327) * › * [Authors](https://www.amazon.com/Authors-Arts-Literature-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=2330) ##### Buy New - Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com ##### Used - Good - Ships from: Seattlegoodwill Sold by: Seattlegoodwill  Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - **no Kindle device required**. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. * * * Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.  * * * #### Image Unavailable __ Image not available for Color: *  * [ VIDEOS ](https://www.amazon.com/Flagrant-Self-Destructive-Gestures-Biography-Johnson/dp/1685970370) * [ 360° VIEW ](https://www.amazon.com/Flagrant-Self-Destructive-Gestures-Biography-Johnson/dp/1685970370) * [ IMAGES ](https://www.amazon.com/Flagrant-Self-Destructive-Gestures-Biography-Johnson/dp/1685970370)   Read sample  * * * # Follow the author __ Get new release updates & improved recommendations [](https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Geltner/e/B00CPZZZIU) [Ted GeltnerTed Geltner](https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Geltner/e/B00CPZZZIU) [ Follow ](https://www.amazon.com/Flagrant-Self-Destructive-Gestures-Biography-Johnson/dp/1685970370) Something went wrong. Please try your request again later. OK [](javascript:void\(0\) "Share") # Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures: A Biography of Denis Johnson by [Ted Geltner](https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Geltner/e/B00CPZZZIU/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1) (Author) __ Format: Paperback __ Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. Try again. [ See all formats and editions ](https://www.amazon.com/Flagrant-Self-Destructive-Gestures-Biography-Johnson/dp/1685970370) * * * ### Purchase options and add-ons * * * __ __ __ The year was 1988, and Denis Johnson was at a low point. He caught malaria on a reporting trip into the jungles of the Philippines and was nearly pronounced dead. The disease left him unable to write. His second wife left him. He didn’t have enough money to pay his taxes. His publisher was waiting for a book that he hadn’t started. But in the life of Denis Johnson, when things were at their bleakest, something good was usually waiting around the next corner. This time, what emerged from the chaos was his masterpiece Jesus’ Son, a book that would tap into the zeitgeist of the 1990s and become a bible for Generation X and an American classic. Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures tells the complete story of Johnson’s fascinating life, his thrill-seeking trips into war zones as a magazine correspondent, his battles with addiction, his live-it-befor