Hell's Angels

VERY GOOD — DUST JACKET: Minor chipping to top and bottom of spine and corresponding corners of same. Minor chipping to top outside corners. Small closed tear to top left corner of spine; inch and a half closed tear to top right corner of spine, extending down into panel. Small closed tears to bottom left side of spine. Small closed tear, middle left of spine. Half inch closed tear to top outside corner. Inked in price above printed price on front flap. BOARDS: Very good condition. No issues. BOOK: Smudges to page margins, 126 - 128. Very slight lean to spine. Please inspect photos closely for condition details.

Here on offer is a very nice copy of Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels, his first book and first attempt at nonfiction. It is a 1st American trade edition, 1st printing of this controversial expose of the outlaw motorcycle club, published by Random House in 1967. The original dustjacket is proteceted from further wear by a Mylar sleeve.

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"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."

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Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences. In 1970, he wrote an unconventional article titled "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" for Scanlan's Monthly, which further raised his profile as a countercultural figure. It also set him on the path to establishing his own subgenre of New Journalism that he called "Gonzo", a journalistic style in which the writer becomes a central figure and participant in the events of the narrative.

Thompson remains best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972), a book first serialized in Rolling Stone in which he grapples with the implications of what he considered the failure of the 1960s counterculture movement. It was adapted for film twice: loosely in 1980 in Where the Buffalo Roam and explicitly in 1998 in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. . . .

Thompson died by suicide at the age of 67, following a series of health problems. Hari Kunzru wrote, "The true voice of Thompson is revealed to be that of American moralist ... one who often makes himself ugly to expose the ugliness he sees around him."

The above text was taken from, respectively, Wikipedia and Random House Publishing Group (via Google Books).