Huge bikes, filthy denim and an aura of barely contained violence; the Hell's Angels could paralyse whole towns with fear, so terrible was their reputation. But how much of that reputation was myth and how much was brutal reality?

Only one man could discover the truth about these latter-day barbarians; Hunter Stockton Thompson, creator of Gonzo journalism, the man who saw the fear and loathing in the heart of the American dream. This counter-culture classic is the hair-raising result.