The Happy Bottom Riding Club

The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes

De: Lauren Kessler

Narrado por: Hollis McCarthy

Pancho Barnes was a force of nature, a woman who lived a big, messy, colorful, unconventional life. She ran through three fortunes, four husbands, and countless lovers. She outflew Amelia Earhart, outsmarted Howard Hughes, outdrank the Mexican Army, and out- maneuvered the U.S. government. In The Happy Bottom Riding Club, award-winning author Lauren Kessler tells the story of a high-spirited, headstrong woman who was proud of her successes, unabashed by her failures, and the architect of her own legend.

Florence "Pancho" Barnes was a California heiress who inherited a love of flying from her grandfather, a pioneer balloonist in the Civil War. Faced with a future of domesticity and upper-crust pretensions, she ran away from her responsibilities as wife and mother to create her own life. She cruised South America. She trekked through Mexico astride a burro. She hitchhiked halfway across the United States. Then, in the late 1920s, she took to the skies, one of a handful of female pilots.

She was a barnstormer, a racer, a cross-country flier, and a Hollywood stunt pilot. She was, for a time, "the fastest woman on earth," flying the fastest civilian airplane in the world. She was an intimate of movie stars, a script doctor for the great director Erich von Stroheim, and, later in life, a drinking buddy of the supersonic jet jockey Chuck Yeager. She ran a wild and wildly successful desert watering hole known as the Happy Bottom Riding Club, the raucous bar and grill depicted in The Right Stuff.

In The Happy Bottom Riding Club, Lauren Kessler presents a portrait, both authoritative and affectionate, of a woman who didn't play by women's rules, a woman of large appetites--emotional, financial, and sexual--who called herself "the greatest conversation piece that ever existed."

Reseñas de la Crítica

Advance praise for The Happy Bottom Riding Club


"The hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous pilot and adventuress Florence 'Pancho' Barnes exploded every feminine stereotype on the books. Thank you, Lauren Kessler, for telling her story with the grace and exuberance it deserves."
---Barbara Ehrenreich


"Pancho Barnes is an unsung American eccentric who helped keep the 'wild' in Wild West. With tremendous zest, insight, and intelligence, Lauren Kessler has given us a compelling tale of a great woman who wasn't afraid to make life synonymous with risk."
---Karen Karbo, author of Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me

Wonderful story

Audio has many pauses and repeats. But the story make it all worth it . Poncho Barns was a true avatrexs

Great story and easy listen

If you want a story based on a real life colorful character …. This is a great one

Wrong narrator for story

What a hoot Pancho Barnes must have been. I doubt we would have been friends, but I would have loved sitting at the next table in the Happy Bottom and eavesdropping on her story telling.

She never stopped living for adventure and although she made so many dreadful decisions in her life, the ride must have been exhilarating. It was a heady, dangerous and adrenaline filled time in the world of aviation and she was always in the midst of the excitement.

There are some distracting jumps back and forth in time. That makes it hard to keep up with the score of leading men. I had to replay some sections to make sure I was following the story.

The narrator is far too measured to keep up with the story. She takes odd pauses in the middle of sentences, something Pancho would have filled with profanity. Someone with a western inflection and pacing would have been much better.

Never a dull moment

Pancho is my favorite Aviatrix and among the top of my favorite aviators. If you haven’t heard her story you 100% should.

Pancho is one of those “who would you dream of having over for dinner” types. This book explains why.

She loved such an amazing life. This book gives details tha you don’t get from the documentary or anywhere else. It’s such a fun read particularly as a native Southern Californian. The author nailed it, too. Thanks for the wonderful book.

wow what a woman what a story

I loved this book so much. she lived life with no apologies. I think her grandfather lived through her. I bet she was an awesome character.

Excellent book.

The book was very well written and kept your interest all the way through. The narrator did a great job reading the book. Pancho Barnes was a very interesting person and this book was very fun to listen to.

Pancho’s extraordinary life!i

I really enjoyed the book wasn’t anything I disliked I love to read about amazing fearless women.

kind of cool but....

kind of cool but could have been half the length if it didn't say the same thing over and over "Poncho didn't pay attention to money and entertained with abandon."

Adventures of a narcissist

Fawning biography of a selfish, entitled narcissist. Glad I used a credit so I can get it back.