Hunter Thompson on the Hell’s Angels

If you know me, you know that one of my touchstones for American journalism is Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs .

It’s pure, amazing Thompson before he was the iconic gonzo journalist addled by drugs in the Nevadan desert. The writing is spare and evocative, his tale of infiltrating the Hell’s Angels humanizing and frightening.

If you’ve read it, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, call Auntie’s Bookstore immediately and buy it. And read it as fast as you can.

Either way, watch this cool animated short from PBS Digital Studios Blank on Blank series , which takes archived interviews with extraordinary people and animates them.

In this short film, Thompson is heard being interviewed by Studs Terkel in 1967, talking about the Angels, his theory on why they came to be and how we all harbor a little violent self deep down.