Maybe Sonny Barger's idealism and spirit has won through. Only an Angel can truly understand if that is the case, and surely, all of them will say that Sonny Barger never failed at anything. Otherwise, we read of how Barger stuck a .25 calibre pistol into Keith Richard's side at Altamont and told him to get on with the gig, how the US Government spent millions trying to stamp out the Angels, and how the Angels tried to stamp out (and on) the anti-Vietnamese War demonstrators in an oddly inversed patriotic moment. Neither does Mr. Barger assist with the unasked question about why he would want to support a Government which has spent some years trying to suppress his personal ideals, and we read ultimately, of how the ideology of his creation comes about at vast cost to Sonny Barger's personal freedom..

The only success stories here are of the spread of the Angels as a world-wide counter-culture feeding on Barger's ideals and martyrdom, ( even those are perhaps diluted - Mr. Barger now fronts an enterprise selling taco sauce, memorabilia, and teeshirts after a move to Arizona for health reasons.) But to an outsider, Sonny Barger's autobiography is grim and unrelenting reading, stamped with the hallmark of reality, big boots, and at least one hastily skipped over murder. The underlying theme is that the law cannot deal with outlaws if corruption is met with corruption and that perhaps, as the police department of Oakland belatedly realised, the Angels are best left undisturbed. If they come out fighting there are no winners, only survivors. The only paragraph of hope comes at the end of this bleakly fascinating book when Sonny Barger admits to recognising the evil in his heart. Otherwise his autobiography wholly encapsulates the social paranoia of late 20th Century Kalifornia, and documents Sonny Barger's rise from an honest soldier serving his country, to a world-wide sub-culture hero.

His book makes for chilling reading.

Sonny Barger's "party and ride" approach to life seems to have been at the expense of everybody else - however, he tells it as it was and his no holds barred approach is at least honest if not commendable. He's no Heaven's Angel - that's for sure. I felt that throughout the book, Sonny should somehow apologise for his drug-using, police-hating, brawling, bullying lifestyle - but I knew we wouldn't get this. I think the only thing he regrets is smoking so many Camels.

I found the book jumped around a lot and also assumed that the reader already knew a lot about HAMC (which I didn't). Many characters made brief appearances and it was sometimes hard to follow whom they were. There is genuine sadness at the loss of so many of his comrades.

I would recommend this book to others who want to get inside the mind of hell raisers like Sonny.

As for taking something from this book? In a fight, Sonny is definitely the kind of guy you want on your side. If he is your "brother" - then your enemies are his, doesn't matter what the cause of enmity is about. The Army probably blew its chances of winning the Vietnam War when they kicked him out!