Jesse James, American Outlaw

I just finished reading a book by Jesse James the founder of West Coast Choppers, and the ex-husband of Sandra Bullock titled “American Outlaw.” This is my review of the book.

First off I have written several articles about Jesse James here on the Biker Law Blog, you can read them by clicking here now.

I will first off say that before I read his book, the only thing I knew about Jesse James is what I saw on TV, and read about him.

I respect any person who can build a successful business on their own. After Jesse James married Sandra Bullock I think all of us bikers realized hell, we are all not so bad after all are we. We too can reach for the stars just like Jesse James.

When the details of his affair went public, it kind of took the wind out of the sails of a lot of bikers.

So it was with trepidation that I bought his book in Kindle format and proceeded to read it. I was hoping the entire book would not be about just Sandra Bullock.

The beginning part of the book is about James’s childhood in Riverside, CA, which to be frank, sounded like it sucked quite a bit. Although James was dirt poor as a kid just like my family was, he came from a broken home, and had an abusive dad. It turned out to be an interesting read I must say. My childhood was not even close to being as bad as his sounds in the book.

I am guessing that James had some help actually writing the book.

The book then went on to discuss Jame’s time in High School, his criminal activities, and his first experiences with girls. As an attorney at law, I cannot relate to James’s criminal activities. He talks about stealing cars, strong-arm robberies, burglaries, etc. If everything he talks about in the book with respect to his criminal activities is true, it blows my mind that he managed to get out of it without going to prison. He does state that he spent some time in Juvenile Hall.

James talked about his getting into playing Football. This is something I related to in the book. I played years of pop warner football before playing high school football. James talked about the fact that he became a star in high school and if it was not for going to juvenile hall, he may have went to a major college.

In college he tore his knee and it ended his football ambitions. For me, a torn knee ended my football ambitions much earlier in the 11th grade.

The book then goes on in detail to discuss how James went to Washington to weld ships, became security and a body guard for top rock and roll bands, and eventually started West Coast Choppers.

James talks about going to work for Boyd Covington the famous hot rod builder, and then starting to build fenders in his garage, which eventually became West Coast Choppers.

James then went on to discuss how he got into reality TV, married his first love then divorced her, married a porn star then divorced her, then the Sandra Bullock fiasco.

He left out the details of the extra marital affairs which wrecked his marriage to Sandra Bullock.

He did go into detail on his therapy in a rehab after the revelations that wrecked his marriage.

I give this book a thumbs up. I learned a lot about Jesse James from his book. Mind you, I do not feel sorry for him. He is a self-made millionaire in his own right. Losing Sandra Bullock sucks, but it was his own fault.

This book will let you know about the man and is certainly not boring. It is real good reading.

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney, and Biker Lawyer, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © June 11, 2010