Editing Hunter S. Thompson (section)

===''Hell's Angels''===
{{See also|Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs}}

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| image1 = Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson (1967 1st ed jacket cover).jpg
| alt1 = Book cover with a photo of a man in a patched denim jacket
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| footer = While he wrote ''Hell's Angels'', Thompson resided in a house near San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood.<ref name="TheBatterySF2018">{{Cite web |last=Joseph |first=Jennifer |date=December 22, 2018 |title=The Haight-Ashbury's History and Heyday: How the 'Ground Zero of Hippiedom' Happened |url=https://www.thebatterysf.com/article/the-haight-ashbury |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013012/https://www.thebatterysf.com/article/the-haight-ashbury |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |access-date=August 15, 2020 |website=The Battery}}</ref>}}

In 1965, [[Carey McWilliams (journalist)|Carey McWilliams]], editor of ''[[The Nation]]'', hired Thompson to write a story about the Hells Angels <!-- no apostrophe in gang's actual name, though most media overcorrect by adding one -->[[Outlaw motorcycle club|motorcycle club]] in California. At the time, Thompson was living in a house near San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood, where the Hells Angels lived across from the [[Grateful Dead]].<ref name="TheBatterySF2018" /> His article appeared on May 17, 1965, after which he received several book offers and spent the next year living and riding with the club. The relationship broke down when the bikers perceived that Thompson was exploiting them for personal gain and demanded a share of his profits. An argument at a party resulted in Thompson suffering a savage beating (or "stomping", as the Angels referred to it) when Thompson intervened to protect a dog and a woman from physical abuse by a punk.<ref>{{Cite web |title=On the Wild Side |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/thompson-angels.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121828/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/thompson-angels.html |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2017 |title=The Night Hunter S. Thompson Got Stomped by Hells Angels |url=https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-night-hunter-s-thompson-got-stomped-by-hells-angels/74874/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901121836/https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-night-hunter-s-thompson-got-stomped-by-hells-angels/74874/ |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=OZY}}</ref> [[Random House]] published the hard cover ''[[Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs]]'' in 1966, and the fight between Thompson and the Angels was well-marketed. [[CBC Television]] even broadcast an encounter between Thompson and Hells Angel Skip Workman before a live studio audience.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RetroBites: Hunter S. Thompson & Hell's Angels (1967) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/ccyu44rsaZo |archive-date=October 29, 2021 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |website=Youtube | date=July 7, 2010 |publisher=CBC}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

A ''[[New York Times]]'' review praised the work as an "angry, knowledgeable, fascinating, and excitedly written book", that shows the Hells Angels "not so much as dropouts from society, but as total misfits, or unfits—emotionally, intellectually, and educationally unfit to achieve the rewards, such as they are, that the contemporary [[social order]] offers". The reviewer also praised Thompson as a "spirited, witty, observant, and original writer; his [[prose]] crackles like motorcycle exhaust".<ref name="nytimes">Fremont-Smith, Eliot (February 23, 1967), "Books of The Times; Motorcycle Misfits—Fiction and Fact." ''The New York Times'', p. 33.</ref>

Thompson also aided [[Danny Lyon]] in his role as photographer with the [[Outlaws Motorcycle Club]], telling Lyon that he should not join the club unless "it was absolutely necessary for photo action".