Good quality journalism from Thompson's time spent around the notorious Hell's Angels. A fascinating read about one of the fringe (yet prominent) cultural groups of the 60's.

The only other Thompson book I have read is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," but I am fairly familiar with 'gonzo journalism.' I wanted to read this book because I'm a big fan of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and the Angels are mentioned quite a bit at La Honda. I also have a ridiculous fascination with the West Coast during the 1960's, and am completely positive I was born at the wrong place and definitely the wrong time. That said, I really liked the book. If you like Thompson's style, you won't be disappointed. The first two parts are mostly accounts of who the Angels really are, as opposed to the image created by the press. I did have some problems with, what I felt, were Thompson's overly sympathetic depictions of the Angels' racism and misogyny; particularly the belief that some women were 'asking for it' when they had sex with 15 Angels at a time, and that if the first act was consentual, the subsequent 4-14 acts must also be consentual. What I did really like was the third part entitled, 'The Dope Cabala and a Wall of Fire." Thompson's summation of the Angels movement is insightful and incredibly well-contructed. While I didn't like everything that was being said, I enjoyed the style. I guess Thompson got closer to the Angels than he thought he did...

This book took me a while but I finally conquered it. I'm beginning to think that these editions by penguin are harder to read because the same exact thing happened to me with Lolita. For a long time, I didn't have to read a book for school so I didn't felt like I was forced to read something in quite a while. We did had a little bit of room for choice tho, the only requirement was to be a non fiction book. I chose this one not only because I had it already in my reading list but because the teacher mentioned it from time to time and I also though it would be fun to talk about. Well, I can now say with certainty that the pace was not quick at all. But as I have said before this might just be because of the font and page format of these editions. Overall I really enjoyed this book. I'm without a doubt much more interested in purchasing non fiction books. Plus I already intended to read Fear and Load in Las Vegas by the same author so I am even more eager to do it now. I really emjoyed Hunter S. Thompson's writing. He constantly jumps from one theme to another but in a very harmonious and balanced way. You would think that the main subject of this book would be just worth an appearance on a magazine but it turns out there is plenty you can dig about the Hell's Angels. The reading of this book opened a few doors for me that otherwise I would probably never get into. I feel like I learned a lot of new and interesting things. Plus, the view point of the author is extremely original. Which is not much of a surprise since Hunter Thompson came to be know precisely because he was so irreverent.

This book took me a while but I finally conquered it. I'm beginning to think that these editions by penguin are harder to read because the same exact thing happened to me with Lolita. For a long time, I didn't have to read a book for school so I didn't felt like I was forced to read something in quite a while. We did had a little bit of room for choice tho, the only requirement was to be a non fiction book. I chose this one not only because I had it already in my reading list but because the teacher mentioned it from time to time and I also though it would be fun to talk about. Well, I can now say with certainty that the pace was not quick at all. But as I have said before this might just be because of the font and page format of these editions. Overall I really enjoyed this book. I'm without a doubt much more interested in purchasing non fiction books. Plus I already intended to read Fear and Load in Las Vegas by the same author so I am even more eager to do it now. I really emjoyed Hunter S. Thompson's writing. He constantly jumps from one theme to another but in a very harmonious and balanced way. You would think that the main subject of this book would be just worth an appearance on a magazine but it turns out there is plenty you can dig about the Hell's Angels. The reading of this book opened a few doors for me that otherwise I would probably never get into. I feel like I learned a lot of new and interesting things. Plus, the view point of the author is extremely original. Which is not much of a surprise since Hunter Thompson came to be know precisely because he was so irreverent.