Rating: 
Summary: NOT BAD, NOT GREAT
Review: Hunter Thompson's adventures with the notorious cycle gang lasted about a year and yielded some fine, exciting stories. However, the bulk of this book is actually kind of dull. I'm not sure how he did it, but Thompson actually wrote a book about the Hell's Angels and made it pretty boring. One gets the feeling that either the Angels didn't trust or like Thompson well enough to truly let him into their cirle or Thompson was (understandably) too afraid to get close. Either way, there is too much pedantic, researched information and statistics (do we really want statistics in a book about the Hell's Angels?) to make the book exciting. The Angels come across as truly monstrous, vile people. Kind of latter-day Vikings. They literally do rape and pillage and assault innocents. Not only that, but they see no harm in it. A foul bunch, to be sure. Even Thompson, at the end, flat out condemns the group as brutes who deserve extermination. This, of course, after receiving his legendary, near-death beating from a group of five Angels. If you want a really good book about a journalist getting in and detailing life with a bunch of hoodlums, check out "Among the Thugs", by Bill Buford(sp?). It's about British football hooligans. They're just as dangerous as the Angels, but a lot funnier and more entertaining. Buford also is a better writer than Thompson and he really makes the personalities come alive. Interestingly enough, "Thugs" also ends with the author receiving a vicious beating. Although in Buford's case it was during a riot, and his attackers were Italian police wielding billy clubs. Check it out. It's much better than Angels. More viceral. And truly exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: Hells Angels
Review: I really should like Hunter Thompson more than I do, I mean he did ride a BSA and he is from my hometown of Louisville, Ky but to be honest he's always seemed kind of faggy to me with that gay filtered cigarette thing hanging from his mouth, plus there's that whole bizarre chapter he dedicated to finding a link between outlaw bikers and homosexuality. Hey what can I say, the guy sets my gaydar off. But I will give him credit, he did write a true classic in Hell's Angels. I've heard grumblings that he sacrificed reality for entertainment value by making some of the HA's into exagerated caricatures of themselves in this book, but whether thats true or not this is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: starnge but not terrible
Review: This is a good book and if you're a fan of HST you can see his writing style from his first published book. He only got a couple of bucks for this one but got to hang out with outlaw bikers who forced him to move to Aspen after demanding money for the book. If you read the Sonny Barger version he seems to hate HST so read them both and you decide. This is a good look at biker gangs in the 60's.
Rating:
Summary: a well written sociological piece of journalism
Review: Hunter Thompson brings us underground journalism. Hunter Thompson brings us gonzo journalism. But he can be serious, while not losing that 'underground' quality. No, Hell's Angels isn't the wild ride Fear and Loathing was, but a more serious study of the Hell's Angels, and who and what, and more importantly, why they are. There is plenty of drugs and alcohol in the book, but not is the style of writing. Thompson writes very straightforward, very serious (and very entertainingly). You can tell he took his topic seriously, and wants us to do so as well. All the way through his 'ending': the beating he took that ended his time with the Hell's Angels. If you are interested in outlaws, or if you are interested in Thompson's work, or if you liked Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, then you'll love this book. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Scary Look Into the Lives of the Hell's Angels
Review: I expected this book to be exciting and trippy like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I was surprised to find that it is actually a pretty serious book about what really happens when the Hell's Angels hit the road and bring their version of Brotherly Love to a town near you. The ideas and beliefs of the Hell's Angels are far from the mainstream and Thompson tells about them in a way that is easy to understand. Thompson portrays the Hell's Angels not as heroes or villans, but as a disorganized rabble of people who are basically losers. People who need a group to get along in this world. This book helped me get a perspective on just a piece of the turmoil that was the 60's.
Rating: 
Summary: Hunter S. Thompson is an a$$hole.
Review: This guy is a self-inflating ballon. No one and nothing is as important in his eyes as he is. His opinion of himself and the world around him is all that really matters. His ability to cunningly insinuate himself into the minds of others dramatically increases the danger he poses. If you have the misfortune to be assigned one of his books in a college class, lament that no one has made "Cliff Notes."
Rating:
Summary: Hog Wild
Review: Roll up your sleeves boys and girls, if you read Hell's Angels the Doctor is going to inject you with a dosage of Outlaw Reality and Hog Rage as it were. The Hell's Angels are the last vestiges of the American Outlaw, 1%'s they're called, outside the outside, committed to a life of Freedom, punctuated by violence, booze, barbituates, indiscriminate sex and of course cruising the Amercian Wastelands on their Great Metallic Steeds, stripped down Harley Davidson's known affectionately as Hogs. Hunter S. is in his own right a one percenter. This book shows the Dr. of Gonzo's journalistic zeal, as he braves the world of the Angels, driving not a Hog as he should but a Dark Shadow. This is only too perfect as Hunter is the dark specter following the dastardly deeds of these bastard bikers. This book displays Hunter's ballsy journalism, as well as allowing him to focus on a central theme that would go on to pervade his other works: the outlaw and his importance to American society, a society that is dredged to the hilt with phonies, gutless wonders, souless greedmongers, hypocrites, cowards, politicians and other scum, capitalisitc, bureacratic, pig-like and otherwise. Hell's Angels is the journalistic calm that precedes the storm of hallucinagenic brilliance that was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. So one way or the other let the Doctor of Gonzo vaccinate your mind from the mindless surge that makes up the money grubbing, TV watching majority of this Great Country of Ours. (...)
Rating:
Summary: I wanted more...
Review: ...first hand accounts of Dr. Thompson's personal dealings with the Angels. Much of the book is written as an essay on the topic of the Hell's Angels. It includes many facts and quotes of everyone involved, from the Angels themselves, to quotes of police officers and politicians. Included throughout are Hunter's analysis of press coverage of the Angels and how the press nearly glorifies criminals. Too much facts. When I bought the book, I was hoping to learn of the Angel's reputation not by reading someone's studies (because anyone could do research), but by living it through the author's eyes. Hunter makes it clear that he studied/mingled with the Hell's Angels for about a year. Where are all the crazy stories? There were a couple personal accounts sprinkled here and there, but there he also a lot of general statements in the piece without giving me the experience I was hoping for. For example, he'd say something to the effect of... and no one wanted these modern day Huns coming into their town, raping, pillaging, and chain-whipping anyone in their path. Did the Angels actually do these sorts of things? Did they go through towns ravaging and raping everything in site? After reading "Hell's Angels" I still can't answer these and similar questions.
Rating:
Summary: Hell Yes
Review: This was the book that got me into Hunter S. Thompson. Back when I was living in the Bay Area, I was on the verge of buying a Triumph Bonneville. I figured that this book would give me some inspiration, and get me to go through with my purchase. What I found was a book that pays great respect to a fantastic machine, and an outlaw culture that surrounded it. Sex, violence, LSD, politics, and counter cultural icons like Keasey and Gingsberg all pop up in this book. I also found this book interesting becuase of it's historical insight into the Bay Area during one of the most exciting decades.
Rating: 
Summary: HST at his (almost) best
Review: This is a fun read, with more info on biker gangs than you probably wanted to know. Generally considered a classic within most HST fan circles. I really like it.
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