Hell's Angels

Shoulder-length hair streaming, swastikas jangling, filthy death's-head-emblazoned denims crackling in the wind - the Hell's Angels are out on a run, and America's West Coast cowers in loathing.
Press reports of the Angels read like a plot synopsis of a thriller writer's worst dreams. Hunter S. Thompson found the reality different - but still disturbing. Here, with Rabelaisian gusto, he tells of his experiences with Little Jesus, Charger Charley the Child Molester, Big Frank ('You don't really jerk out the eyeball, you just sorta spring it so it pops outa the socket') and a host of others. This is the inner truth of a phenomenon that relegates our Rockers to the nursery.

Gonzo journalist and literary roustabout Hunter S. Thompson flies with the angels-Hell's Angels, that is-in this short work of nonfiction.

"California, Labor Day weekend . . . early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur. . . The Menace is loose again."

Thus begins Hunter S. Thompson's vivid account of his experiences with California's most notorious motorcycle gang, the Hell's Angels. In the mid-1960s, Thompson spent almost two years living with the controversial Angels, cycling up and down the coast, reveling in the anarchic spirit of their clan, and, as befits their name, raising hell. His book successfully captures a singular moment in American history, when the biker lifestyle was first defined, and when such countercultural movements were electrifying and horrifying America. Thompson, the creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with his usual bravado, energy, and brutal honesty, and with a nuanced and incisive eye; as The New Yorker pointed out, "For all its uninhibited and sardonic humor, Thompson's book is a thoughtful piece of work." As illuminating now as when originally published in 1967, Hell's Angels is a gripping portrait, and the best account we have of the truth behind an American legend.