diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index b9c3a643..e61f8d99 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -68,3 +68,4 @@ Patches and Suggestions
 - Christopher Davis
 - Ori Livneh
 - Jason Emerick
+- Bryan Helmig
diff --git a/docs/user/quickstart.rst b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
index 34741174..551d0c34 100644
--- a/docs/user/quickstart.rst
+++ b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
@@ -364,6 +364,10 @@ If a request exceeds the configured number of maximum redirections, a :class:`To
 All exceptions that Requests explicitly raises inherit from
 :class:`requests.exceptions.RequestException`.
 
+You can refer to :ref:`Configuration API Docs <configurations>` for immediate raising of :class:`HTTPError` exceptions
+via the ``danger_mode`` option or have Requests catch the majority of :class:`requests.exceptions.RequestException` exceptions
+with the ``safe_mode`` option.
+
 -----------------------
 
 Ready for more? Check out the :ref:`advanced <advanced>` section.
diff --git a/requests/defaults.py b/requests/defaults.py
index e8db67ab..1d6716df 100644
--- a/requests/defaults.py
+++ b/requests/defaults.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Configurations:
 :decode_unicode: Decode unicode responses automatically?
 :keep_alive: Reuse HTTP Connections?
 :max_retries: The number of times a request should be retried in the event of a connection failure.
+:danger_mode: If true, Requests will raise errors immediately.
 :safe_mode: If true, Requests will catch all errors.
 :pool_maxsize: The maximium size of an HTTP connection pool.
 :pool_connections: The number of active HTTP connection pools to use.
@@ -38,5 +39,6 @@ defaults['decode_unicode'] = True
 defaults['pool_connections'] = 10
 defaults['pool_maxsize'] = 10
 defaults['max_retries'] = 0
+defaults['danger_mode'] = False
 defaults['safe_mode'] = False
 defaults['keep_alive'] = True
diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index 17403a69..39ea7a11 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -525,6 +525,9 @@ class Request(object):
             if prefetch:
                 # Save the response.
                 self.response.content
+            
+            if self.config.get('danger_mode'):
+                self.response.raise_for_status()
 
             return self.sent
 
diff --git a/test_requests.py b/test_requests.py
index b3e55c8c..f6547de0 100755
--- a/test_requests.py
+++ b/test_requests.py
@@ -279,6 +279,16 @@ class RequestsTestSuite(unittest.TestCase):
         r.raise_for_status()
 
 
+    def test_default_status_raising(self):
+        config = {'danger_mode': True}
+        args = [httpbin('status', '404')]
+        kwargs = dict(config=config)
+        self.assertRaises(HTTPError, requests.get, *args, **kwargs)
+
+        r = requests.get(httpbin('status', '200'))
+        self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
+
+
     def test_decompress_gzip(self):
 
         r = requests.get(httpbin('gzip'))