National Network for Equitable Library Service

Recovery is the longest road toward a better future. "When you are that far into addiction, one of the things you are ruled by, you live for, is the drug. It becomes your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your lover." In The Longest Road, Joe Calendino relives his harrowing journey from full-patch Hells Angel to rock bottom. Consumed by drugs and alcohol, he spiralled out of control and ended up strung out, desperate and destitute. Now it's his mission to protect at-risk youth from that same fate. Written with his trusted confidant and former high school counsellor, Gary Little, this gripping memoir shares more than Calendino's story of relapse and redemption. It also tells the stories of the hidden angels who helped save his life, and the lives of the young people he now strives to help in his role as executive director of Yo Bro Yo Girl Youth Initiative. There are families who have lost loved ones to overdose, friends whose habits have landed them in gangs or in jail, and the call to action of a community that needs help, healing and hope—now more than ever. Building on his first page-turning memoir, To Hell and Back, Calendino again shows he is living proof that sometimes all it takes is someone believing in you to completely change your life.