Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale | 
 enlarge | Author: John Hall
Publisher: Motorbooks
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $15.68
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 38251
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0760332762
Dewey Decimal Number: 629
EAN: 9780760332764
ASIN: 0760332762
Publication Date: September 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Ride with author John Hall into the turbulent world of 1960s bike club culture, from the time he joined an upstart motorcycle club from Dixie, and rose to become Long Island chapter president of the Pagans, a club that the FBI called "the most violent criminal organization in America." Follow him into the Pagan heartland of Pennsylvania where he fell in love, got in a roadhouse brawl over a honky-tonk angel, and eventually went to jail for "takin' care a club business." Now after a career as a journalist and college professor, he returns to the violent days of his youth and smashes up stereotypes like he once smashed up bars, resurrecting long-dead brothers, in a style reminiscent of Jack Kerouac and Mark Twain. Hall presents them as they really were: hard living, hard loving, hard drinking, hard fighting rebels, but also hardworking, patriotic, loyal, and lovable characters, and a band of brothers whose outlandish behavior forged an all-American outlaw legend in the tradition of Jesse James, Doc Holliday, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Outlaws yes, but outlaws as American as apple pie.
Book Description
This is the story, outrageous but true, of John Hall, a Harley-riding hell raiser who founded the Pagans, a club the FBI called "the most violent criminal organization in America," and ended up in the Pennsylvania state penitentiary after a roadhouse brawl over a honky-tonk angel. Riding on the Edge describes John’s riotous ride through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, doing his damnedest to die young and leave a good-looking corpse. And it tells how one man bucked the system, first as a hell-bent biker, and then as an ex-con with the chutzpah to challenge the state of Pennsylvania.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Well-Written Motorcycle Prose December 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is probably the most intelligent and well-written account I have ever read about the motorcycle club lifestyle. The author begins each chapter with a passage from Norse mythology and presents a detailed account of the colorful characters that formed his circle of friends during the late 60's. I especially liked the vivid description of that bygone era of hard drinking blue collar types and their palpable sense of freedom (sometimes licentiousness) that we in the modern nanny state can barely understand. I also liked some of the inadvertent social commentary about the the decline of of our county's industrial heartland and the clashing social mores of that time.
I did not give this book five stars because the author leaves much unsaid. First,
what happened to the Pagan's (specifically his chapter and the others on Long Island)? He relates the fate of some individual members, but doesn't expound much upon that MC's longevity nor the membership that followed his departure. Second, he doesn't provide any information about his incarceration or his reinvention as a college professor. Perhaps, he is saving that for another book. Lastly, he gives a muted appeal to his former brothers for understanding in his account of events. Is he, in the parlance of the MC's, "Out in Bad/Good Standings"? One of the reviews in this forum, suggests that his parting may have been less than amicable.
In any event, the author tells an interesting tale and tells it well. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to know about the east coast's largest native outlaw MC.
 riding on the edge November 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
well written book couldnt put down ive read over 40 outlaw books this ranks in the top 5
John Hall's a heck of a writer October 29, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm not sure I can say that John Hall is a better writer than Hunter S. Thompson, as another reviewer has done, but he's in the general ballpark, which is saying a lot since I think Thompson was one of the finest American writers of the 20th century. This is one hell of a book.
 Fact and Fiction September 24, 2008
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
In 2006 John Hall's literary agent James Fitzgerald of New York contacted us about the book. At that time Fitzgerald was informed that John Hall in fact did not have authorization to write, print or publish any thing about the Pagan's MC. John Hall has never contacted the club at all to seek authorization. The book is interesting to read for the most part, however it is by no means a acurate and true account of the 1 1/2 years that John Hall was a member of the club. Not only is it an exageration of his own status and position within the club, but also certain alleged events written of in the book are totally fictional and never happened. For the most part he dropped names of men that are dead now, however others are still alive and atest to the false nature of this personal account of John Hall. John Hall was nothing more than a spoke in a wheel. John Hall is not a original member of the club and does not have the respect or honor that position would grant.
Pagan Ronnie 1%
Pagan's MC
Outstanding book! September 19, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a very GOOD book, well written and well documented.The style is even better than an other all-time icon, Hells Angels by H.Thompson.It is worth every euro I paid for it.As an european biker I get a better look at the history of 1%-America in years. Most of the publications were always about the HAMC and now more books are published about the other clubs:giving a more balanced look at these matters.Truly an outstanding piece of work.
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