Hell's Angels by hunter s. thompson

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

This was truly great stuff. It was Hunter Thompson before he descended into the drugs, drink, and debauchery that he became infamous for. It was solid journalism, which is really a sad shame when you think about his later years.

"Hell's Angels" is extremely engaging. At first, it's a little slow as Thompson struggles to find his unique writing style. But soon enough, he finds his footing and takes off on an intoxicatingly stupendous adventure of biker gangs.

It's thoroughly interesting and definitely a book worth reading, even if you have no interest whatsoever in who or what the Hell's Angels were. It offers a deep dive into the dark underbelly of 60s American biker gangs and maintains an open mind throughout.

Thompson's exploration of this subculture is both fascinating and eye-opening. He doesn't shy away from the gritty details, but presents them in a way that makes you want to keep reading.

Overall, "Hell's Angels" is a remarkable piece of work that showcases Thompson's talent as a journalist and storyteller. It's a must-read for anyone interested in American culture, history, or just a good adventure.

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7038634357

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

Gentlemen, start your engines.

An absolutely stunning debut for any writer. Thompson's work is truly a gem that shines bright in the literary world.

Thompson writes with knife-like precision and an eye for detail that pegs him as a born journalist. His ingenuity and original style put him in a league of his own. Sometimes he writes like a scientist, or like David Attenborough, describing a new rare species of gorillas that he has suddenly come upon in the jungle. For example, he writes, "Probably the most universal common denominator in identification of Hell's Angels is their generally filthy condition." (page 8)

The Hells Angels were the original 1%-ers before it took on a broader swathe of the population in modern terms to basically mean the 'underdog.' Their relationship with the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) is also an interesting aspect to read about.

Another of Hunter's many strengths is his ability to stand inside the shoes of various parties involved in the story. He often describes the Angels through the eyes of others, painting a vivid picture of their image on the American highway. For instance, he writes, "The southbound lanes were crowded with taxpayers heading out for a Labor Day weekend that suddenly seemed tinged with horror as the Angel band swept past...this animal crowd on big wheels, going somewhere public, all noise and hair and bust-out raping instincts...the temptation for many a motorist was to swing hard left, with no warning, and crush these arrogant scorpions." (page 11)

HST deftly traces the outlaw motorcycle gang's swift rise to universal notoriety through his gonzo-journalism method. By joining in the action as a somewhat 'neutral' bystander, he is able to lift the 'deadly fictions' of the press from our eyes and show us the true Angels. He has a gentle tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at the excesses and exaggerations of the press, while also being direct and not mincing his words at times.

Thompson skillfully analyzes our thirst and interest in the Angels' primitive ways. He also offers a clear, level-headed, and dispassionate overview of their way of life, which makes the reader think twice before wanting to become an Angel. His prose borders on poetic at times, as seen in his description of the boys he is riding with, "To see a lone Angel screaming through traffic - defying all rules, limits and patterns - is to understand the motorcycle as an instrument of anarchy, a tool of defiance and even a weapon." (page 85)

Despite getting close to the outlaws, Hunter is able to distance himself and avoid being overly subjective or romantic about them. He also comments on their habitual drug-taking, the unwritten codes they adopt, and the various questions that readers have about them. His humour is another strong point, as seen in his descriptions of cops, public figures, and politicians.

In conclusion, if you want to read a writer who 'takes no prisoners' and offers incisive social commentary, then read Hunter S. Thompson. His masterpiece, Hell's Angels, is a must-read for anyone interested in the outlaw motorcycle gang and the culture that surrounds them.

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Tatsumaki

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

You ever come across a book where it's blatantly obvious that it was originally a magazine article that has been stretched out to book length? Well, here's one such example.

It's repetitive, with a circular narrative that is mostly dull and uninteresting. In no way is this book worth your time to read.

I did have a bit of fun with Thompson's light-hearted jabs at Kesey. Having just finished reading "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," I found the part where the two stories intersect to be quite interesting. And there is sort of a theme in there about society on the fringes, masculinity, and other such topics (like many motorcycle riders, Thompson had some real insecurities about his masculinity). However, if you can manage to track down the original magazine article, that would probably be sufficient.

I also quite enjoyed the epilogue. During this part,

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DogPark69

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

I can't say that I was overly impressed with this book.

However, this is most likely because the Hell's Angel's motorcycle club – or any motorcycle club – were never of any great interest to me.

So it can be safely said that I do not fall into the target demographic of interested readers.

I also find Hunter S. Thompson's writing style to be utterly self-obsessed and pretentious.

This might be an advantage in novels like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” where the subject is Hunter S. Thompson on drugs, but it really does the Hell's Angels no credit at all.

I didn't enjoy Thomson's writing style or his constant efforts to appear in sync with the Angels on some matters.

He wanted to seem just edgy enough to upset the squares, but not so completely reckless as to engage in random acts of violence.

This book draws the same conclusions that any sensible person examining government prosecution of motorcycle gangs would.

That is, that motorcycle gangs are not the bogeymen responsible for the outrageous percentages of crime the media reports.

But their reputations as lawbreakers are not undeserved.

This novel exemplifies that the Hell's Angels are rooted in ambiguity and defy any obvious explanation of their manifesto or motivation, much like any other group of organised thugs.

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amelietun

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

Review

Hell's Angels is a rather typical work of Hunter S. Thompson. It展现出了参差不齐的质量，是一个混合体，其中一些段落有着惊人的精神致幻般的卓越之处，而另一些则是填充内容和仓促写成的垃圾文字。《地狱天使》并非亨特最混乱的书籍之一——它的大部分内容几乎是平稳地不连贯，有令人惊讶的长段相当标准的新闻体散文。《地狱天使》的读者会发现这是一个常常缓慢、冗长且有时枯燥，但非常详细且具有启发性的关于20世纪60年代中期加利福尼亚地狱天使的描述。你会读到他们的神话与现实、个别天使和其他摩托车手的外貌与性格，以及普通民众和执法部门对这些“野兽”的反应。亨特花了太多时间重复明显的信息，并用冗长且常常无意义的块状引语填充他的书，还有一些普遍不相关（除非你，我不知道，处于兴奋状态且因各种毒品而迷醉）的艺术引语。我本很想听到更多关于他在公寓里与天使们闲逛以及和他们一起聚会的时光。幸运的是，他确实让读者领略了一次长时间的“狂欢”（地狱天使的派对）、一些极其生动的性派对、高质量的亨特式污秽诗意散文、他与肯·凯西和快乐恶作剧者们一起聚会的版本、一个很棒的汤普森式引言，以及我读过的最令人难忘的书结局之一。我怀疑普通读者真的会想给这本书四颗星，但如果你是亨特的粉丝、垮掉的一代的粉丝、肾上腺素瘾君子、地狱天使的爱好者、瘾君子、大麻吸食者、另类文化的粉丝、历史学家或大麻吸食者；那就读一读吧！

一些值得注意的段落:

关于强奸:

~ 没有人对强奸是客观的。它同时是一种恐怖、一种刺激和一个谜。女性害怕被强奸，但在每个子宫的深处都有一根叛逆的神经末梢，每当提到这个词时就会好奇地颤动。这甚至更可怕，因为它暗示了基本的堕落和太危险而不能去想的秘密欲望。男人们以厌恶的口吻谈论强奸犯，并把他们的受害者当作好像她们带着某种悲惨的烙印。他们是同情的，但总是意识到。被强奸的女性被她们的丈夫离婚了——他们无法忍受生活在那种可怕的认知、幻象以及可能不是真正强奸的可能性之中。这就是它的本质，那无法言说的神秘。~ （第187页）

对天使在世界上地位的很好总结:

~ 所以他们的立场不仅仅是对在一个他们从未创造的世界中被接受的渴望。他们真正的动机是对实际情况的一种本能的确定。他们出局了，而且他们知道这一点。与校园叛逆者不同，他们只需付出最小的努力就能从他们的斗争中获得一张通往地位的有效门票，而非法摩托车手则以一个完全没有上升空间的人的恶毒眼光看待未来。在一个越来越面向专家、技术人员和极其复杂的机器的世界里，地狱天使显然是失败者，这让他们很烦恼。但他们没有安静地接受他们的集体命运，而是把它作为全职社会报复的基础。他们不期望赢得任何东西，但另一方面，他们也没什么可失去的。~ （第53页）

---------下面是有趣的剧透：如果你想在书中读到我最喜欢的段落，就不要读这部分；)

恐惧/肾上腺素/边缘/死亡/生活

~...但当油门拧到底时，只有最微小的余地，根本没有犯错的空间。必须做得恰到好处...然后奇怪的音乐就开始了，当你把运气拉伸得如此之远，以至于恐惧变成了兴奋，并沿着你的手臂振动。在一百英里的时速下你几乎看不清；眼泪飞得如此之快，以至于在到达你的耳朵之前就蒸发了。唯一的声音是风和从消声器传来的沉闷轰鸣声。你看着白线并试图随着它倾斜...呼啸着通过一个右转弯，然后是左转弯，沿着长长的山坡驶向帕西菲卡...现在松开油门，留意警察，但只是直到下一个黑暗的路段和在边缘上的又几秒钟...边缘...没有诚实的方式来解释它，因为真正知道它在哪里的唯一的人是那些已经越过它的人。其他人——活着的人——是那些把他们的控制推到他们觉得自己能处理的极限，然后退缩、减速，或者在必须在现在和以后之间做出选择时做任何他们必须做的事情的人。

但边缘仍然在那里。或者也许它在里面。摩托车与LSD的联系并非宣传的偶然。它们都是达到目的的手段，到达定义的地方。~

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chrar

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

This was a truly remarkable book. Hunter Thompson demonstrated an outstanding ability in narrating the story of the Hell’s Angels.

The book is filled with numerous discussions regarding the Hell’s Angels culture, which are skillfully intertwined with the various experiences the group had during their weekend runs to different destinations beyond their home territory.

The culture discussions encompassed a wide range of topics. It delved into how they cope with their circumstances in life, their philosophy towards fighting, their approach to dealing with women, drugs, rival gangs, their bikes, and many other aspects.

One particularly interesting part was the party weekend with Ken Kesey and the Pranksters at his ranch in La Honda. I had previously read about this in the Electric Cool Aid Acid Test, which added an extra layer of intrigue to this account.

Overall, this book provides a fascinating and in-depth look into the world of the Hell’s Angels, making it a must-read for those interested in counterculture and motorcycle gangs.

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FeelinWoozie

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

I just read this for perhaps the fifth time.

From this book up to about 1978, Hunter was truly at his peak. Every book he penned during that period was of the highest order. The man was indeed a major American prose stylist.

Those of you who might scoff at this assertion will, one day, come to realize that I'm right. Hunter doesn't receive nearly enough credit for being the highly intelligent person he was. That intelligence is vividly evident in this book, which was written before the character of Hunter Thompson had developed to the extent that it could get in between the text and the reader.

The guy simply knew his stuff. His use of literary references alone is fascinating, revealing a genuine understanding of just about everything that had preceded, especially everything American. If someone hasn't yet written a thesis comparing Hunter to Mark Twain, they should. If you scoff at that, go read "Life on the Mississippi" and then give me a call.

Also, Hunter was a very good and highly professional journalist. All his facts were straight, his figures were correct, and his opinions and analysis were always clearly labeled as such. This is truly a home run.

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JustAnAddict

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 14,2025

What a wild ride! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I decided to read it because I love Hunter S. Thompson, whom I consider one of my favorite writers. But this is based solely on only reading ONE of his books, probably the most famous book of his, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I decided I wanted to read more of his work and realized this was Hunter's very first book. There are so many things I liked about it. On a personal level, I live in the Bay Area of Northern California. I was born in Oakland, and this book centers mainly around the Bay Area and our cities and freeways. The Angels were heavily centered around Oakland and I enjoyed reading Hunter describe so many familiar places.

This book takes place in the late '60s and I could see the early hints of Hunter's later drug escapades that he would write about in Fear and Loathing. There are descriptions of many of the Hell's Angels parties where they drank a lot of beer and dropped acid, echoing Hunter's own later experiences with substances. It made me wonder if his time with the Angels is part of what planted the seed for the heavy drug binging he would become famous for and lead to his Gonzo days!

Hunter talks about a more true and realistic account of what the Hell's Angels were like compared to what the media at the time portrayed them as. I could tell that many of them were sorely misrepresented and many never did a lot of the horrible things they were accused of, especially rape, which Hunter goes at length to explain in relation to that horrible crime being associated with the gang. He spent over a year with them and the book gives a "you are there" with him perspective which is highly entertaining!

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Hell's Angels

hunter s. thompson sylvie durastanti

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