Product Description

The open road, a well-tuned machine, and a fine "old lady" hanging on to your back. That's freedom. That's living.

Ridin' High, Livin' FreeSonny Barger is the number one spokesman for the outlaw biker life. His New York Times bestseller Hell's Angel was an exhilarating history of his experiences with the world's most notorious motorcycle club. Now the Angel spreads his wings even wider to bring us rousing, moving, wildly entertaining true-life stories of his renegade brothers and sisters in black leather and their relentless pursuits of liberty, individuality, and the "ultimate ride."

And what stories he has to tell -- freewheeling, bare-knuckle tales of brawls and battles, brotherhood, breathtaking adventures, and crazy quests, and the inevitable classic scrapes with "John Law." The most colorful legends and unforgettable characters of biker lore come alive here: badass dudes like Cincinnati, one of the many Folsom State Prison graduates riding the nation's highways; lone-wolf dreamer Moto Guzzi Ron and his remarkable run at the North Pole, dodging killer bears along the way; and the 1960s saga of party girl Loaded Linda who finally abandoned the biker life for a Silicon Valley gig. Celebrities like Steve McQueen, Johnny Paycheck, and David Crosby thunder through these pages -- alongside some incredibly stylish hog-straddling ladies and quixotic personalities -- in a sensational collection of rebel tales that run the gamut from the poignant and inspiring to the thrilling and utterly outrageous. And through it all, Sonny celebrates the revered creed of the free-spirit motorized wanderer, an ingrained pride and loyalty to the biker fraternity and the glorious machines they love more than their mothers.

Whether you ride, have never ridden, or just dream of riding, Ridin' High, Livin' Free is a reading experience you won't soon forget. It's a fascinating glimpse into a unique culture of freedom that recognizes only one commandment: the code of the road.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #665072 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The latest literary effort from Hell's Angels chieftain Barger is "a collection of true stories, modern myths, and biker tales" submitted to him by other bikers. As such, few of them actually involve the legendary Barger. Barger selected and rewrote the stories himself (with help from the Zimmermans). He concedes that some are true while others are apocryphal, and it's up to the reader to decide which is which. Depicting fairly unspectacular hell-raisers including characters like DOA, Loaded Linda, Freewheelin' Freddy and One-Armed Paul most of the 38 tales are too uneventful to be mistaken for myth, leaving one to wonder if Barger is holding back the good stuff or whether he used up most of it in his earlier memoir, Hell's Angel. Some of the stories are engaging and even informative, such as the profile of an African-American motorcycle club and the piece detailing singer David Crosby's biker connections. But most meander toward abrupt endings, closing with a trite moral or clunky shoutout to the story's principal character. Barger illustrates a kinder, gentler rider; his characters are certainly not above wreaking a little havoc, but they're also quick to help a fallen biker or spread the word of God. The book works best when describing the simple pleasure of cruising through the American landscape at sunrise.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
A notorious biker and two ghostwriters present tales--some true, some not, some embellished--of the open road and outlaw life. Lurid romance, violence, and rough humor come packaged in a style meant to represent the oral informality of aging Hell's Angel Sonny Barger, an eyewitness to many of the incidents he relates. Character actor Philip Bosco does justice to the style by sounding like a quasi-literate boozing brawler. One suspects that Barger takes more delight in regaling his barroom buddies with this fare than Bosco takes here. This reviewer is grateful for this, as he find the permanent adolescents and sociopaths limned herein repulsive enough without the glee. Y.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The sequel to Hell's Angel (2000) is a little less fresh, perhaps, but biker buffs will still find it the true stuff. Barger expounds on legal contretemps, lifestyle options ("always gas up the night before"), and singular persons he has known, his assessments and descriptions of which are priceless. Steve McQueen and David Crosby share the bill with the likes of "virtually deaf" Loaded Linda, whose favorite sound as a teen was "the roar of a pair of Harley-Davidson straight pipes" and who, no longer "the notorious biker chick," is "settled down and doing really well these days." That settling down and doing well gets to be a theme here. Most of Barger's most memorable characters--provided they are still alive--have settled down and become nominally respectable citizens. Sure, a lot of them went to jail for a while, but Sonny wants you to know that bikers are people, too. Don't ask for too many specifics about the past, and there won't be any trouble. Mike Tribby
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