THOMPSON, Hunter S. Hell's Angels. A Strange and Terrible Saga. New York: Random House. 1967.
8vo. Original black cloth, embossed in silver with an image of a man riding a motorcycle to upper board; backstrip lettered in red and silver with publisher's device to foot; with dust wrapper featuring the image of a biker to the upper panel; upper edge black, outer edge untrimmed; pp. [xi], 4-278, [2]; a little bruised to spine ends; a near-fine copy, otherwise, in the very good jacket which is creased to top edge.
First edition of this classic work concerning the notorious motorcycle gang on their tours around California.
After a year tracing and personally participating in the movements of the notorious motorcycle gang on their tours of California, this masterpiece in underground reportage was Thompson's first published book and launched Thompson's career as a writer. Though he had by then published numerous articles for various journals and newspapers and was recognized as a journalist, the book was his first true exposure to a national audience.
Reviews of the work were generally very positive and despite a poor performance on the publicity tour by Thompson, who was by his own admission drunk or exhausted for nearly every interview, the book sold relatively well. His account of an infamously riotous and dangerous way of life vividly captures a siginficant moment in American history when the biker lifestyle first found its definition, and similar countercultural movements were both simultaneously enthralling and unnerving society.
SKU: 2120268