Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale [Hardcover]

John Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

From the Back Cover

In the 1960s, John Hall, a Harley-riding hell-raiser, hooked up with the Pagans, a group of like-minded individuals who went on to become the largest outlaw motorcycle club on the East Coast. Hall and the Pagans rode roughshod across the Eastern Seaboard throughout the 1960s, until John and six other Pagans ended up in the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary. While in prison John began taking college classes and earned several degrees.

 

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 writing style that is part Raymond Carver and part Jack Kerouac. Hall presents the Pagans as they really were: hard-living, hard-loving, hard-drinking, hard-fighting rebels, but also hardworking patriots, loyal, lovable characters, 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.

 

Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw’s Tale tells the story of John and the Pagans as they rode hard through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, doing their damnedest to die young and leave good-looking corpses.

 

Bikernet.com

“This is a good story about a lifestyle and chapter in American history that we will never see again. Back when America was a free country and you were innocent until proven guilty, before political correctness and before the patriot act. Read this and remember or imagine what it must have been like to be so free!”

 

Motorcycle.com

Few people are able to retrospectively recount the life of an outlaw biker with such accuracy and candor as John Hall, mostly because few people so deeply entrenched within such a culture ever make it out alive. If rival gangs, bar brawls or bike accidents don’t kill them, years of hard drinking and hard living usually do. Documenting historical sociological connections to the beliefs and brotherhood of medieval Vikings, Hall paints a sometimes entertaining, occasionally chilling picture of men who live beyond the boundaries of our society yet will do anything to uphold the sacred values and tradition of their heritage. Whether you are interested in the sociology of such sub cultures or just want to read a firsthand account of life within an outlaw biker club, <I>Riding on the Edge <M> will surely quench this thirst like a cold beer at a biker rally.

 

RoadRUNNER Magazine

“Riding on the Edge breaks down the stereotypes and newspaper headlines to reveal the raw moments in time which spawned them. John Hall's writing is so down-to-earth it seems as if you're listening to a favorite uncle spin a tale.”

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; 1st edition (September 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760332762
• ISBN-13: 978-0760332764
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Motorcycles > History
  • #75 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Crime & Criminals  > Gangs

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Effort, September 14, 2008

By 

Pappy (PACNORWEST) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale (Hardcover)

"Riding on the Edge" is, IMHO, the finest work of 1%er biker literature on the stands today. Written by an Old School biker and original member of the Pagans MC, this is a thoughtful, respectful and captivating story of what it was like to be a 1960s motorcycle outlaw.

Written by John Hall, today a professional journalist and academic, Hall's book eclipses Sonny Barger's very successful effort (Hell's Angel) and, when compared, makes a mockery of Ruben "Doc" Cavazo's recent book about himself (oh, and the Mongols MC, too).

"Riding" is a wonderful read with the best outlaw biker book cover on the stands to date. Well worth the purchase.

51 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fact and Fiction, September 23, 2008

By 

Pagan Ronnie 1% (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale (Hardcover)

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

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riding the Edge, September 4, 2008

By 

Suzanne Wallis (Tulsa, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale (Hardcover)

I think this book was as good as the Sonny Barger book, Hell's Angel if not better.
Very gritty and realistic and man, John Hall is a very good writer as well. He kept me reading and reading on.