\'What we were after ...was lashings of ultra-violence\'. In Anthony Burgess\' infamous nightmare vision of youth culture in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost? Burgess writes of social prophecy and free will in this black comedy.