Chapter 18 Summary and Analysis

Thompson finally tired of the endless rounds of drinking. He staggered to his car, where he slept with the doors locked and the windows rolled up. Thompson awoke to discover another reporter taping an interview with Barger. He notes the interview was one of the last free interviews Barger ever allowed. The next morning the drinking resumed and continued into the afternoon, spreading into the nearby town. A freelance photographer became involved in a heated exchange between some Hell's Angels and the police. One Hell's Angel roared away in fury on his motorcycle, only to crash and break his leg. The police refused to summon an ambulance until someone would act as a financial guarantor. The situation escalated and the photographer was eventually arrested, largely because he was a suitable scapegoat—not a local, and not a Hell's Angel.

Thompson...