From the age of 19, Dennis Hopper believed that he was a genius. However, late in life even he had to admit that there was a "vast body of crap  most of the 150 films I've been in  this river of shit that I've tried to make gold out of". He started out as a promising young supporting actor in Hollywood, where he fell under the spell of James Dean (they shared an interest in grass and peyote). But when Dean suddenly died, Hopper  who once saw Dean's ghost in the back of his car  went off the rails and ruined his career. Cue descent into alcohol, drugs and violence ("The marriage reached a turning point on the afternoon that Hopper broke his wife's nose"), followed by resurrection as the co-writer, director and star of Easy Rider. In many ways, this enjoyable, well-researched and clear-eyed biography doubles as a cultural history, as Hopper goes from Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet to Super Mario Bros, Speed and Waterworld.