Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
by Sonny Barger, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman
List Price:
Our Price: $7.83
You Save: $7.16 (48%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.19 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman, Sonny BargerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-02
ISBN: 0060937548
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780060937546
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
Book Review: "The Sun Never sets on a Hell's Angel Patch."
Summary: 5 Stars
The microcosm birth of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club evolved in the Fontana/ San Bernardino, California area on April 1957. Ralph Robert Barger,(Sonny) who was only 19 years old, was the founder and leader of the Hell's Angels San Bernardino motorcycle club.
Sonny Barger's book, "Hell's Angel" is the only authorized, genuine story about the, sometimes, but not always, controversial motorcycle club founded by the author himself.
In reading, "Hell's Angel," the reader might disagree, agree and perhaps even sympathize with the story and history of the Hell's Angels' motorcycle club. More often than not different law enforcement agencies classified the Hell's Angels as a `criminal organization' for usurping the American legal system.
It is up to the reader to make his or her own assessment whether those law enforcement agencies were correct in their judgment of the Hell's Angels; or if they were prejudiced in their appraisal of the motorcycle club (MC).
Many believe the original Angels were members of the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Division; an elite group of paratroopers trained to rain death on the enemy from above, drifting in behind the lines of battle.
"They called themselves the Hells Angels because they flew on silk wings into hell itself, bringing a brutal hope for peace with 20 pounds of TNT strapped to each leg. The nickname was a badge of honor, a mark of invincibility, a wartime emblem pointing out the toughest of the tough. It was a totem to ward off the worst."
"A handful of those original Hells Angels, and many other returning soldiers who had awakened to the nightmare of war, found it difficult to settle into the half-sleep of the American Dream. After living on the edge so long, they found only a depressing fatalism and monotony in jobs, family, mortgages, and college, suburbia and cookie-cutter houses with white-picket fences." And so they joined the MC.
According to Sonny Barger, "The Hell's Angels is an organization; a group of people, who get together to ride motorcycles and have fun, and go to parties." "... Just because certain people in the Hell's Angels have committed crimes in the past does not make the organization a criminal organization."
Under Barger's guidance, the Hells Angels chapters came together, hammering out bylaws, codes of conduct, outlawing the practice of using drugs, choosing patches, colors, tattoos and clubhouses. The Hell's Angel's made sure that no one used their "Patch" who had not been accepted in the MC, or who were not worthy of their motorcycle club. The MC is a close-knit motorcycle club who not only fights to preserve the dignity of their "Patch," but take care, protect, and stand by one another to the fullest.
There were other motorcycle clubs, throughout the United States, who not only rivaled the Hell's Angels but tried to outdo them as well. However, law enforcement organizations did not excoriated those motorcycle clubs as they hammered the anvil of law enforcement against the Hell's Angels.
The Hell's Angel reputation crashed into the public consciousness in 1954 when Marlon Brando starred in "The Wild One," a Hollywood sensation inspired by the rumble at Hollister.
All the while, the Hell's Angels boldness more than irritated all types of law enforcement. And in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the government tried to pin an official organized crime label on the group, trying to prosecute the Hells Angels under laws originally designed to combat the Mafia. The alleged violations of racketeering, influence and corrupt organization (RICO) laws, however, were never proved, with two hung juries that were unable to decide on 38 of 44 separate charges.
There were many high-profile accusations, arrests and acquittals - suggesting either the Angels are slippery or that police like to arrest them despite flimsy evidence. Many believe the truth lies between both theories.
George Christie, longtime president of the Ventura, Calif., chapter, who is considered Barger's second-in-command and likely successor; admits the Hell's Angels are "not monks." Nevertheless, he insists that if they were as bad as police allege, they would've been jailed and disbanded years ago." George Christi adds, "...cops chase Angels because Angels are easy to chase. Finding real criminals is much tougher, and would require investigative initiative beyond pulling over every biker wearing the infamous winged death's-head."
For their part, the Angels continue to deny all criminal charges, and in 1998 happily celebrated their 50th anniversary.
The Angels have grown, in the past 50 years, to include many chapters in the United States, a presence in many countries and a worldwide membership estimated in the thousands.
I recommend, to the interested reader, Sonny Barger's book, "Hell's Angel" before reading any other books, or magazine articles on the subject of the famous motorcycle club; The Hell's Angels.
More Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
Narrated by the visionary founding member, Hell's Angel provides a fascinating all-access pass to the secret world of the notorious Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Sonny Barger recounts the birth of the original Oakland Hell's Angels and the four turbulent decades that followed. Hell's Angel also chronicles the way the HAMC revolutionized the look of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle and built what has become a worldwide bike-riding fraternity, a beacon for freedom-seekers the world over.
Dozens of photos, including many from private collections and from noted photographers, provide visual documentation to this extraordinary tale. Never simply a story about motorcycles, colorful characters, and high-speed thrills, Hell's Angel is the ultimate outlaw's tale of loyalty and betrayal, subcultures and brotherhood, and the real price of freedom.
Rich & Famous Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Rich & Famous Books
Stories from Candyland: Confections from One of Hollywood's Most Famous Wives and Mothersby Candy Spelling
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2010-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.76
Price in other shops:
Sara and Eleanor: The Story of Sara Delano Roosevelt and Her Daughter-in-Law, Eleanor Rooseveltby Jan Pottker
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2004-04-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops:
Katie: The Real Storyby Edward Klein
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2008-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Mrs. Astor's New York: Money and Social Power in a Gilded Ageby Dr. Eric Homberger
Yale University Press; Published: 2004-09-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.21
Price in other shops:
The Jamie Oliver Effect: The Man, The Food, The Revolutionby Gilly Smith
Andre Deutsch; Published: 2009-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.14
Price in other shops:
America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassisby Sarah Bradford
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2001-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.82
Price in other shops:
Ringmaster!by Jerry Springer, Laura Morton
St Martins Pr; Published: 1998-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops:
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys : An American Sagaby Doris Kearns Goodwin
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1991-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.99
Oprah: A Biographyby Kitty Kelley
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2011-01-18; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops:
Seinfeld: The Making of an American Iconby Jerry Oppenheimer
Harper; Published: 2002-08-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Honor Few, Fear None: The Life and Times of a Mongolby Ruben Cavazos
It Books; Published: 2009-05-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.23
Price in other shops:
Outlaw BikersKoch International; Release date: 2010-02-23; DVD
Best price: $7.27
Price in other shops:
The Mammoth Book of BikersRunning Press; Published: 2007-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.53
Price in other shops:
A Wayward Angel: The Full Story of the Hells Angelsby George Wethern, Vincent Colnett
The Lyons Press; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.03
Price in other shops:
Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcyclingby Sonny Barger, Darwin Holmstrom
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2011-08-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
Freedom: Credos from the Roadby Sonny Barger
William Morrow; Published: 2005-06-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Ridin' High, Livin' Free: Hell-Raising Motorcycle Storiesby Ralph Sonny Barger
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2003-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.05
Price in other shops:
Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Sagaby Hunter S. Thompson
Ballantine Books; Published: 1996-09-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops:
Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gangby William Queen
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-06-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angelsby Jay Dobyns, Nils Johnson-Shelton
Broadway; Published: 2010-02-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.18
Price in other shops: