Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
Written by Sonny Barger
Narrated by John Pruden
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
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.
Sonny Barger
Ralph "Sonny" Barger (1938-2002) was the author of Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club.
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Reviews for Hell's Angel
98 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fascinating look inside the world of Sonny Barger and his bike club, "The Hell's Angels". It's predictably apologetic, Sonny gives us reasons for it all. But, I'm not so sure I disagree with his reasoning.
The funniest moment in the book is when he said of "Harley Davidson", "we should have gone with Honda". Hell's Angels on Honda's? Now that is a strange picture. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An engaging interesting read especially if you’re into crime/gang related nonfiction.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A cool history of sonny bargers life events.defiantly worth a read
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book is basically a series of vignettes narrated by Sonny Barger, the President and one of the founding members of the Hell’s Angels Oakland Chapter. From a strictly historical viewpoint, this is a good overview into how the MC’s developed from returned vets in World War II up to today.I did not read the electronic version of the book and so had the benefit of having access to all the pictures. These are a great addition to the read as many are photographs of the individuals Barger is telling stories about. There are also some great pictures of the bikes – particularly choppers from the late 60’s and 70’s.Let’s say that if you are looking for hardcore murder, mayhem and drug dealing a la “Sons of Anarchy” you may be barking up the wrong tree. There are inferences and allusions to that life but the dirty deeds are skirted. I guess Sonny Barger felt that he had done enough time and smartly did not incriminate himself in the book.That being said, the stories are fun. Everything from Sturgis to Altamont, from the summer of love in Frisco to the heydays in Oakland are covered. One thing about the MC life becomes obvious by the end of the book – Sonny Barger is lucky to be alive because most of the members he writes about died. Many died in motorcycle accidents, some from drug overdoses and some in prison murders.Sonny Barger doesn’t glorify it too much but the story is shined and polished and rated PG so there is still some mystique for those looking for that aspect of the life. Rivalries, old ladies, fights, bikes and bikes and more bikes make up a short, light and entertaining read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Put together very well. Gives you a sense of what the times where like and the evolution of big Red Machine. Well done..
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I first started the book, I didn't think I was going to be able to finish it, too much braggadocio for me. However, it turned out to be a fairly pleasant read. I think the thing I found most interesting was how the gang was structured, with meetings, rules, and having to receive a transfer letter to leave one chapter and join another.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very interesting and insightful - opened my eyes around some of the documentaries.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A 5”9, 150 pound man is beating everyone up sounds just a tad far fetched. Lol Why did America not send the Hell Angels to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Angels seem to be the greatest fighting force that ever lived according to Sonny. Can anybody verify any of the stories he told? I mean besides his prison time. Sonny is such a self centered man, it was just really hard to finish this book, but I struggled to the end.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If you'd like to know how the mind of a thoroughly unpleasant man works, read this book. It paints a nice picture of a man (and his friends) who don't care about anything but themselves.The style of writing isn't exactly gripping, the main reason I finished 90% of the book was due to the 'factual' information presented and not because it was a pleasant read. The book is not in chronological order, but organized by subject. To me this was confusing at times because points in time are denoted as 'when we just started', 'when I met my wife' etc. rather than 'May 1961'.This book is probably only worth your time if researching Hell's Angels or if you want to decide whether joining an outlaw motorcycle gang is something you'd like to do (in which case you're probably not reading this ;).