Thirty-four interviews and encounters chronicle the rise of Charles Bukowski. He speaks in his own voice about his writing and his life, dutifully answering question after question. Included is his first interview in 1963 with the Literary Times of Chicago from his one-bedroom Hollywood apartment, and his last—at poolside in San Pedro answering a German journalist in August 1993, seven months before his death at 73. Follow his journey from obscurity to fame in Europe and finally in America after the success of the movie Barfly.