In the early 1960s, Hunter S. Thompson, then a journalist in San Francisco, was fascinated by the Hell's Angels motorcycle club. His article about these lords of the road causes a sensation, so the author decides to tackle a longer version: he spends a year riding and writing alongside them. But the adventure ends wildly: because he refuses to share his royalties, the angels leave the man of letters on the road, half-dead and with a broken head...

The book takes you into the underworld of a club whose name has the worst sound among all California biker gangs. Thompson describes in eloquent, impressive detail their machines, their own laws, slang, origins and everyday existence...