High Attitude outlines the history of Aspen through the story of Hunter S. Thompson; the '70s shooting of Spider Sabich by his movie star wife; a casual pass-through murder by Ted Bundy, who was later apprehended and brought back to Aspen only to escape through an unlocked jailhouse window to murder again; the 2000s frolicking of Charlie Sheen; and the drunken bawdiness of the Kennedys throughout. Aspen is a place where the DEA keeps impending drug raids secret from the pro-drug sheriff for fear that the dealers will be tipped off and where multimillion-dollar, slope side, subsidized housing goes to privileged insiders with seven-figure net worths and $300,000-a-year incomes.

High Attitude is ugly, riveting, and instructive on what other resorts—and the rest of America—should avoid.