Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale

John Hall was an uncompromising Harley-riding hell-raiser when he hooked up with a group of like-minded riders in the 1960's and formed The Pagans, a motorcycle club that was called 'the most violent criminal gang in America' by the FBI, and dominated the East Coast, with regular territory fights against both Hells Angels and Fates over drug distribution, prostitution, extortion rights. Throughout the 1960's The Pagans were a force to be reckoned with, and they rode through the tumultuous 60's determined to die young and leave a good looking corpse. Until a roadhouse brawl over a honky-tonk angel led to John hall and six others being arrested, charged, tried, and incarcerated in Pennsylvania State Penitentiary.Whilst in prison, Hall begun taking college degrees, turning his life around and moving from hardened criminal to teacher and law clerk, now settled with seven children. This full and frank account of his life covers the hell-raising, criminal enterprises, his work as stone-mason, bartender, bouncer, painter, teacher, and now dedicated family man who works to help others avoid the past he had.

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 of 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.-Whitehorsepress- Either I m obsessive or this book was addicting. Riding on the Edge by John Hall was a fantastic story and I could not put it down; my nose was buried in it for three days straight! It was strikeingly different than the two 1%er books I read by Sonny Barger. Sonny s books about the Hells Angels on the west coast happened far away from my home on the east coast and seems like another world. On the other hand John Hall s book is about the Pagans on the east coast. Although the story takes place during the late 60 s when I was born, it seems way more real because I am thoroughly familiar with many of the towns in this story. Sonny s books are an easy read for the average Joe but John Hall s book is more sophisticated. Keep in mind John Hall got educated at Penn State while serving time and later became a college professor.To illustrate the character of the members of the Pagans, Hall goes into detail about the character of the region which I found very interesting. I grew up knowing about Yankee s and Rednecks. If you re like me and from New England you re a Yankee or a Northerner. Everyone from south of the Mason Dixon Line are Southerners and Rednecks. Other than New Yorkers I have never heard or read anyone describe the people in between; the people of Appalachia. John Hall goes into detail about the Irish, German and Polish blue collar workers living between the Midwest, New England and the Mason Dixon line; the area I now consider home.John tells his story well and I want to believe every word of it. It depicts a young man coming of age during the late 60 s. His leadership qualities land him smack dab in the middle of a growing brotherhood of east coast bikers that he see s as a cross between teutonic knights and barbarian warriors of norse mythology. Everyone of the Pagans in John s story is a righteous brother. Although these brothers pride themselves on being outlaws they are not 'criminals'. They may get in brawls, demolish bars and violently crush rival clubs but they are in no way involved with criminal business acts. They are honest , hard working and straight forward people. It s a Robin Hood story where our hero, the young John Hall, makes an honest living as a lithographer when he needs money. He is a hard worker but makes just enough to spend the rest of his time riding motorcycles, drinking beer and raising hell... like all red blooded americans should do. If you re looking for a well written outlaw romance coming of age adventure story about bearded swastika wearing bikers (the good guys) doing bad things like drinking, fighting and more fighting then this is your book. Get it now before you die a tragic death or go to jail like the characters that Hall portraies. -- --Roadcaptainusa --Biker news dot com

This is a strange one, depending on your view of 'strange'. A very compelling, plusible and not over-romanticized account of a world that most of us will only ever see from the outside, it deals with the life of an American patch club member in the late-sixties told in retrospect with an astonishing amount of deatil that suggests either a comprehensive diary or els a lot of artistic license. Taken at face value, it is a fascinating insight, not only into the whole bike club scene but into the post-industrial blue-collar east coast of America that had been built on coal and steel, and its cultural origins since the 17 century Dutsch and German migration, which can make you see the USA in a very different light...it is an entertaining volume that conjures up a time in life when an over-riding belife in the immortality of youth is still intact: when you can still jump on a knackered bike in the middle of winter in a tee-shirt, jacket and jeans in the belife that you'll get where you're going without mechanical breakdown or forstbite; when anything is possible so more things are attempted. It dosen't seek to justify the actions of a group operating outside society's conventions but it does go some way towards explaining the mentality and my only dissapointmnet was that having come to terms with many, and heartily welcomed other proffered reasons, the author's authority is so cmpromised by on-line responses that the credibility of that rationale is questionable. What isn't open to debate is that he can tell a story. --American-V, September, 2009 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-Pappy--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--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. --doc spanjier--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. --rider boy -- -- --Biker news dot com

Either I m obsessive or this book was addicting. Riding on the Edge by John Hall was a fantastic story and I could not put it down; my nose was buried in it for three days straight! It was strikeingly different than the two 1%er books I read by Sonny Barger. Sonny s books about the Hells Angels on the west coast happened far away from my home on the east coast and seems like another world. On the other hand John Hall s book is about the Pagans on the east coast. Although the story takes place during the late 60 s when I was born, it seems way more real because I am thoroughly familiar with many of the towns in this story. Sonny s books are an easy read for the average Joe but John Hall s book is more sophisticated. Keep in mind John Hall got educated at Penn State while serving time and later became a college professor. To illustrate the character of the members of the Pagans, Hall goes into detail about the character of the region which I found very interesting. I grew up knowing about Yankee s and Rednecks. If you re like me and from New England you re a Yankee or a Northerner. Everyone from south of the Mason Dixon Line are Southerners and Rednecks. Other than New Yorkers I have never heard or read anyone describe the people in between; the people of Appalachia. John Hall goes into detail about the Irish, German and Polish blue collar workers living between the Midwest, New England and the Mason Dixon line; the area I now consider home. John tells his story well and I want to believe every word of it. It depicts a young man coming of age during the late 60 s. His leadership qualities land him smack dab in the middle of a growing brotherhood of east coast bikers that he see s as a cross between teutonic knights and barbarian warriors of norse mythology. Everyone of the Pagans in John s story is a righteous brother. Although these brothers pride themselves on being outlaws they are not criminals . They may get in brawls, demolish bars and violently crush rival clubs but they are in no way involved with criminal business acts. They are honest , hard working and straight forward people. It s a Robin Hood story where our hero, the young John Hall, makes an honest living as a lithographer when he needs money. He is a hard worker but makes just enough to spend the rest of his time riding motorcycles, drinking beer and raising hell... like all red blooded americans should do. If you re looking for a well written outlaw romance coming of age adventure story about bearded swastika wearing bikers (the good guys) doing bad things like drinking, fighting and more fighting then this is your book. Get it now before you die a tragic death or go to jail like the characters that Hall portrays so vividly in this mesmerizing account of his misspent youth...road captain usa...an unusually engaging piece of work about once upon a time in the Pagans Motorcycle Club. Like most engaging writing, what Hall has to say may or may not be all literally true. The important thing is that most of it sounds true. Parts of it are too good not to be true. Hall rode with the Pagans in 1967 and 1968, just when the club was patching over a dozen or so other clubs. The book is about the historical moment when the super-power motorcycle clubs like the Pagans were born. During that moment Hall was a chapter president with the club on Long Island. Most of all, Hall has written a book about how hard it was to get arrested in the late 1960s. He recalls a time when it was almost normal for young, working class men to work with their hands all week and then get sloppy drunk, fight, flaunt the law, offend convention, test their mortality and have meaningless, anonymous sex every weekend. It could never happen now. Which is only one of the reasons why it still sounds like fun. --ageing rebel