Well there are times when this book is really interesting, especially as a critique of media-narratives and government overreach. And there’s times where the author (quoting and not quoting various Hell’s Angels) sure does spend a lot of time talking about rape, and not really making salient points. It’s a kind of bizarro world version of critiques of use of rape charges being used against Black men, and there might actually be some validity to the specific over-prosecution of Hell’s Angels by California police. If that were the whole of the point, I think there’d be an earnest critique there. However, Thompson ties that point to the idea that ALL rape charges against Hells’ Angels are overblown, again an idea that might have some resonance if he didn’t spend huge parts of this book being specifically scared in the presence of Hell’s Angels and having them threaten sexual violence against his wife.
So the book’s interesting points come at the very beginning as a critique of how a disingenuous and inaccurate report by the California Attorney General and news outlets picking up that report that suggest that Hell’s Angels were a growing and severely dangerous threat. Thompson points out that the report is salacious, even if true, because it highlights the Hell’s Angels but only represents a drop in the bucket of total crime. And while the reporting also might have some truth to it, it sensationalizes the numbers, and according to Thompson bolstered Hell’s Angels numbers.
This reminds me of the ways in which MS-13 violence crept into so many Republican election scare tactics in the last few years. And like with those, the danger of any given interaction with MS-13 is no less dangerous, the chances are slim with the general public having those interactions.
So the book ends up being quite the mixed bag here.
(Photo: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10882.Hell_s_Angels)