Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

In 1966, Hunter S. Thompson published the novel about the global motorcycle club Hells Angels in the Random House Publishing. It was Thompson's first published book and his first attempt at a non -fiction novel. Was released in 2004 Hell's Angels for the first time in German from Heyne.

Content

In a mixture of factual text and narration Thompson writes both about the culture of bikers and their public perception and the internal club perception of the public, as well as about their own experiences during the time in which he accompanied the club.

He cites reports from newspapers and magazines to support his statements. Here, the passive reporting of facts alternates with stories from active participation, or is with these blurred. So Thompson takes part as the Bass Lake Run and allows for Konterkarierung the events feed reports from newspapers he commented.

He tells not only of the parties in the clubs, but also of internal affairs, such as the so-called mums or of alleged rapes in which members should have been involved. He reports both from the moments with Angels, as well as from his journalistic perspective, in which he considers bikers and the coverage in the major U.S. newspapers critical.

The epigraph of the book is the Ballade du concours de Blois of François Villon.

" In my country I am interested in further point, Am powerful, all authority and power but merely Profits always lose forever, Say early in the day, ' God give you good night '! Mounted backwards, I Fürcht to fall. "

The origin and history

Thompson wrote for The Nation edition of 17 May 1965 article " The Motorcycle gangs: Losers and Outsiders ". Then he got offers from some book publishers who were interested in further research on the subject. The next year he spent on the preparation of the book in the immediate vicinity of the Hells Angels, in particular, he spent time with the local chapters in San Bernardino and Oakland and with the club president Sonny Barger.

Thompson had the Angels also advised that he was a journalist. It was introduced by Birney Jarvis, a former member and at that time a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, in their ranks. With this recommendation, he was able to get quite close to the club and take a long interview with his tape recorder. Members of the club read his designs to be sure that his statements were correct.

The relationship with the Hells Angels broke, as some members of Thompson brutally beat. At this point, he ended the collaboration. Later he remarked in a letter, that the Angels, who were involved in the brawl, had not been those with whom he had employed during the research for his book.

Effect and criticism

Hell's Angels was the book that Thompson earned a career as a writer. Up to this time he had already published a number of articles for various journals and newspapers and worked as a journalist anerkannt.Das book was its first release for a nationwide audience.

Reviews of the book were on the whole very positive, despite a pretty bad publicity tour it sold quite well. In a New York Times Book Review is to the book: " A deep insight into a world that most of us will never set foot. "

Particular criticism was told Thompson's description of the transition - rape by the radical feminist Susan Brownmiller in her book Against our will. Rape and male dominance from 1975.