Hell on Wheels (Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson)

Member Name: allybally

Product:	Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson
Date:	23/11/06 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Objective and witty

Disadvantages: Cuts quite close to the bone occassionally

Author: Hunter S Thompson
Publisher: Random House
Published Date: 1966
Genre: "Gonzo" Biography
Pages: 284
Amazon Price: £6.39

***Who is Hunter Thompson***
*The Career*
Quite simply, the King of Gonzo. Thompson is considered one of the controversial American greats and the choices of how he lived his personal life are almost as widely-known as his writing.

Thompson started his writing career working for numerous newspaper and magazine publications, notably with Playboy and *Rolling Stone Magazine - *with whom he sustained a relatively enduring relationship.

From there, Thompson was crowned as founder and king of the super-subjective style of journalism now widely-known as Gonzo Journalism.

Hell's Angels was Thompson's first published book although many have since followed including the most renowned Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which was made into a film starring Johnny Depp and Benito Del Toro.

*The man*
Hunter S Thompson sadly died on February 20th 2005 from what has been recorded as a self-inflicted gun shot wound. There have been many arguments as to whether this is the true cause of his death as in his time, Thompson has made many people nervous. Not one for shying away from sensitive issues, Thompson has acted as an outspoken voice on several matters many of which have been political (Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 follows the presidential election of Nixon) and has never minced his words. He is a man of conviction, even running (unsuccessfully) for Sheriff in Colorado. It is rumoured that at the time of his death, Thompson was working on a story revolving around a paedophile ring active in the Whitehouse. Whether this is true, or the fantasies of conspiracy theorists is unclear, however it is undeniable that Thompson managed to secure himself enemies through is eccentric behaviour.

Thompson wrote freely about his substantial drug use and his love of fire arms - two things that make many people twitchy. Yes, Drugs and alcohol played an important part in Thompson's personal and professional life - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was based on a drug-fuelled trip he took with his Mexican Lawyer. Yes his cavalier attitude towards authority and any institution that would take away his rights as an individual were difficult for some to grasp and yes, his penchant for blowing up typewriters, setting off flares in the Hollywood hills and keeping Peacocks as pets confused many people to the extent that they began to fear this unpredictable oddball.

However, drugs and alcohol is not the core of Thompson and who he was. Thompson knew no fear and as such, grabbed the bull by the proverbial and did all the crazy things we are too smart and cautious to do ourselves, questioned all the idiots with too much power we cower from and wasted no time leaving behind a lifetime of memories.

***Other books by the author***
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
The Curse of Lono
The Rum Diary
Kingdom of Fear
The Great Shark Hunt


***What's the book about***
As the title suggests, Hell's Angels follows the gang of Motorcycle "outlaws" in a time when they were most feared by everyone for their supposed depraved and violent nature and misunderstood for there refusal to conform to society standards.

In particular, Thompson who spent more than a year in close association with the gang charters his experiences with the family as they prepare for the annual Labour Day weekend festivities when most town folk expect the worst.

The story gives a first hand account of what went on not only on that specific weekend, embellished with individual personal stories, tales of bar room brawls, reports of horrific gang rapes, sexual free-for-alls, vicious violent retaliation attacks, arrests, bail bonds and releases, quotes and viewpoints from society and the media, and how The Hell's Angels have become one of the biggest, world-wide "families" to which each new recruit becomes a part of upon their inauguration.

Thompson introduces us to characters like Charger Charley and the unfortunately named Gimp and we hear their take on what the Hell's Angels are about. They talk freely about their beliefs, their bikes and their "mama's."

***What I liked about it***
The Angels don't generally trust journalists and I am not convinced that they ever even trusted Thompson but somehow, he manages to gain an insight into this notorious group of greasy-haired, tattooed, leather-clad beasts and exposes not just the ugly, monstrous sides of them but also the softer, gentler sides which many of them would much prefer wasn't broadcast.

Thompson has an uncanny ability to write in a completely objective manner when very few of us can see past what is being written about. There is the occasional story in this book which turned my stomach but what kept me reading was his ability to make the most unthinkable, thinkable and the unbearable just bearable enough.

Originally, I struggled with how Thompson can say the things we know not to utter but secretly wonder about ourselves. Seeing some of my thoughts in print made me feel uncomfortable but I can't help but feel admiration for the man brave enough to write without questioning. This strength meant I found myself empathising with the Angels when perhaps the decent, good law-abiding society would tell me this was wrong. I was able to see two sides to the tainted coin in a number of cases when I never imagined I would. I don't think, Thompson writes with his readers in mind. He writes from the heart and it is doubtful he stops to consider whether he has caused offence or shocked his audience too much.

My favourite part of this book came towards the end as Thompson describes the scene of beer-bellied greaser's with their denims rolled up, boots left on the beach, grotty beards and manky ponytails being held just out of the water and white farmer-tan bellies exposed to the sun paddling together in the lake along with other weekend holiday goers.

Thompson is a smart man with an eye for detail and an intuition about what is funny. He is as sarcastic as he is ballsy and his humour comes across well in this tale.

***What I didn't like about***
There is nothing major I didn't like about this book, however I am still not sure how I feel about just how cavalier Thompson could be about scenarios of utter violence and demoralisation. On the one hand as I mentioned earlier, I was astounded and impressed with his ability to write in such an objective manner. On the other hand, as a human being I found it difficult to understand how he could write so coldly and right or wrong, I found myself wondering in it was objectivity or whether he believed these horrible things were acceptable.

***Conclusion***
Hell's Angels is a fascinating read. Having read other work by Thompson I can certainly see how his style of writing has progressed since his debut book. Having said that, I cannot think of anything that was lacking in Hell's Angels.

It is a candid, shocking, enlightening, entertaining, witty and occasionally frighteningly real account of not only the hell's Angels but also the ugliness of the society that shuns them.

Summary: Hunter Thompson explores the phenomena of the Hells Angels