At 65, Harland Sanders was broke, sleeping in his car and living on a $105 monthly Social Security check. This deep dive strips away the smiling mascot on the bucket to reveal the turbulent, stubborn and often explosive life of the man who built Kentucky Fried Chicken.

We trace his childhood as a cook for his siblings after his father died, a string of firings for insubordination, a failed acetylene lamp venture, a legal career ended by a courtroom fistfight, a deadly shootout with a rival gas station owner, and the pressure fryer that changed fast food. Then we follow the franchising hustle, the $2 million sale, and his bitter feud with the corporation over its gravy.

• How a rent-free Shell station in North Corbin, Kentucky became a Duncan Hines-recommended restaurant
• Why the pressure fryer solved the choice between slow pan-frying and dry deep-frying
• How the first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in Utah and got its name from a sign painter
• The four-cents-per-chicken franchise model that grew to more than 600 locations by 1964
• Libel suits, surprise inspections and the Claudia Sanders Dinner House that still serves his original recipe