This is a fascinating conversation with Dennis McNally, who tells the inside story of the Grateful Dead as revealed to him during a dozen years on the road with the band, by the members themselves, and from a mountain of research.  Ben Ratliff writes in the New York Times, that Dennis "had more access to his subjects and their trails of paper, recording tape and roach clips than almost all previous rock biographers."

With cameos from the Hell's Angels, the CIA, the Beat Poets, the Grateful Dead's adventures encapsulates the story of counter-culture America itself... and depending on your perspective, serves as a cautionary tale.  

Dennis is also the author of Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation & America