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Summary: Excellent and true book
Review: My family has had the privelidge of knowing Sonny. His book is excellent! Finally there is a book written by a member that knows and speaks the truth, not just an author that writes down anything that they think will sell a book. If you want to learn facts, I strongly recommend "Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club". This is a must read book.
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Summary: Sonny Barger....a man of his words
Review: The book is very honest, the way Sonny Barger is. As school superintendent at Roberts High School in Roberts, Montana, I teach a required U.S. History class on the 1960's. Sonny was kind enough to work with one of my Senior students, Brent Waller, on his research paper on the history of the Hell's Angel. Just as the book is written, Sonny was "straight up" with Brent, a student who needed to be motivated to write a paper. You could not believe the interest Sonny generated in Brent and his paper. My thanks go out to Sonny Barger for an honest, up front view of a powerful organization he helped develop......and for his devotion in helping one of my students submit one of the best research papers I have ever read in my 20 years in the field of education! God Bless and good wishes to both he and Noel.
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Summary: Strong start, slower finish
Review: I picked this book up at my local library as soon as I saw it on the shelf. Love 'em or hate 'em, the Hell's Angels are a part of 20th century American history and culture, and the lion's share of the credit for this fact goes to Sonny Barger. It was interesting to read *the* insider's look at the Angels, whose image has been heavily mythologized, both positively and negatively, since the 1950s. The first chapters of the book were more interesting to me, since they dealt with the history of motorcycle gangs in 1940s and 1950s America, the formation of the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club, and the personalities and activities that put the group on the map, as it were. Descriptions of Angels' club rules, codes of conduct, and reflections on their famous runs and riots were riveting. But as the book went along it became less about the HAMC and more about the trials (literally) and tribulations of Sonny Barger. Granted, Barger is an interesting personality and I came away with a certain admiration for the man, and the book is the story of Sonny Barger and not just the club, but chapters about Barger's drug trials, incarcerations, and other travails were less interesting to me than stories of the heady early days of the HAMC. All told, however, this is a good look into one of the more interesting but neglected parts of 20th century American society.
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Summary: Personal Responsibility is Sonny's mantra
Review: Sonny Barger is who he is, because of himself. Sure, after reading a little about his "formative years," one could make the arguement that his screwed up home life led him to where he ended up, but one thing remained constant- he was a self-made man. He knew who he was, where he wanted to go, and if he screwed up, he sucked it up and took his lumps, because all he had to blame was himself. But Barger doesn't wallow in this- he glories in it! He and a few other Angels were jailed on a BS charge (and they all knew it), but instead of getting pissed about it, they went with the flow of the system, made themselves to be model prisoners (the chapter where the prisoners in jail were rioting, except the Angels, who were calmly in their cells), and were eventually aquitted. Whatever you think of the Hell's Angels, Sonny Barger is in his own way, a Zen master. Nobody's perfect- God knows Sonny ain't. However, his subtle message of holding himself- and ONLY himself- personally responsible for his life's successes and failures is refreshing, especially in recent times where everything from cartoons, video games, rock music, and a bad home life is blamed for all the ills of society. Sonny, through his life's trials and tribulations, is still standing. He stands because of an indominable will, and a desire to prove all the naysayers wrong. <grin> Hell, even cancer couldn't beat him! My best to Sonny- If I'm ever in Arizona, I'd like to buy him a few beers!
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Summary: The Real Deal
Review: Clearly, this is one of the best books on outlaw bikers, not because of its style, but because of its content. Barger lets you know who the Angels are and why they are. This book defines the differences between weekend warriors and real one-percenters. If you have ever read a book about outlaw bikers or saw one of the B grade biker flicks, you need to get the real story from the father of the HAMC.
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Summary: Memoirs of a modern outlaw
Review: I remember a thrilling experience during my childhood in the mid-sixties: while driving to San Francisco, our family car broke down on the Bayshore (101) Freeway. My parents were startled when two long-haired, bearded, beSwaztica'ed patch-holders pulled up on their loud, chopped Harleys. The bikers spoke briefly with my dad, then performed some minor mechanical magic on our carburetor. They accepted no payment for their assistance, but left us a business card featuring their winged deaths-head logo and words to the effect: "You have been assisted by... the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. When we do right, no one remembers. When we do wrong, no one forgets." At least one person has always remembered. Within a mere few years, I had a stripped-down Hawg of my own, and began acquiring tattoos and speeding tickets. While I was never a one-percenter, it seemed during that tumultuous era that *all* motorcyclists were judged "guilty by association" with the legendary Hells Angels. Whether describing doing right or wrong, HAMC president Sonny Barger minces no words in his hard-riding, fast-reading biography. Nor does he pull any punches. He explodes the myths perpetuated by grade-B biker-flicks and trashy "wannabe" publications, but unapologetically depicts the counterculture without romanticizing it. The Angels we meet in these pages are neither ravenous, rapacious Huns nor iron-steed-mounted rescuers of stranded citizens. Barger's raw writing style, anecdotes, and numerous photos give his book genuine, gritty, outlaw character. It should appeal to one-percenters, citizen-bikers, and even to the "cagers" who fear and loathe them. There is something exhilerating, even archetypal, about the sight and sound of a chapter of Hells Angels, in full color, thundering down the highway. Could it be something remniscent of the soaring, awe-inspiring formations of Bombers and Fighters which spawned the post-War motorclubs? More likely, like a pack of wolves running wild, they symbolize an unfettered and formidable free-spirit, feared by a civilized Society.
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Summary: The Chief
Review: Sonny writes a clear and straightfoward look into the life of a Hells Angel. He is so frank it is unbelievable. If any body out ther wants to here the real side of the Angels story this is it. Not some government propaganda. BUY IT!
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Summary: must read for die hards
Review: Sonny is one of the most prolific and a true outlaw. I've admired him and his followers since I first became aware of the spirit of Harley Davidson. After Korea, my dad and his partner both bought HD's and traveled the US of A! Although my father wasn't an outlaw,he raised a few. I can say only one thing, Buy the book! To Sonny, Hail the Red & White! To Ole Buzzard {omaha, NE} tow on bro! bigwayne53
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Summary: PURE AMERICANA
Review: I found this bio very good and a fun, quick read. Barger doesn't mince words and just tells it like it is. there are no excuses for questionable behavior, nor is said behavior romanticized. I saw Barger on The History Channel's Hell's Angels special and read this book thinking of his gravely voice. It really adds to it. It does make you want to hit the road to anywhere.
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Summary: Sonny Barger---The Man, The Legacy, The King
Review: Ralph is smooth, intelligent, and a born leader. Who else in the world could lead all these men for so long and do it so well. He has held them together and built them up to amazing numbers all over the world. The Hollywood movies have never given so much justice to the 'outlaw' motorcycle rider than the words of Sonny. Thank you, Sonny, for letting the world see, at last, that we bikers are NOT all that the rest of society believes; (via movies,etc.).
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