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The Longest Road: To Hell and Back Again from Addiction to Advocacy
Recovery is the longest road towards a better future.
So says Joe Calendino, former full-patch Hells Angel and now award-winning youth community leader. In The Longest Road , Joe remembers his young adulthood, when he spiralled out of control, consumed by drugs and alcohol, ending up strung out and desperate in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Now, as Executive Director of Yo Bro Yo Girl Youth Initiative, it’s his mission to protect at-risk youth from that same fate.
In The Longest Road , Calendino keeps it raw and real―he’s the first to admit that his path to advocacy was anything but straight. From the Hells Angels clubhouse to the darkest crack dens, Calendino reveals all his remarkable moments of struggle, intervention, recovery, and redemption.
Written with Calendino’s most trusted confidant and former high school counsellor Gary Little, building on their first book together, To Hell and Back , this new memoir shares not just Joe’s story but the stories of the hidden angels who saved his life and those of the young people he now strives to help. 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 who needs help, healing, and hope―now more than ever.
With this page-turning memoir, Calendino is living proof that sometimes all it takes is someone believing in you to completely change your life.
So says Joe Calendino, former full-patch Hells Angel and now award-winning youth community leader. In The Longest Road , Joe remembers his young adulthood, when he spiralled out of control, consumed by drugs and alcohol, ending up strung out and desperate in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Now, as Executive Director of Yo Bro Yo Girl Youth Initiative, it’s his mission to protect at-risk youth from that same fate.
In The Longest Road , Calendino keeps it raw and real―he’s the first to admit that his path to advocacy was anything but straight. From the Hells Angels clubhouse to the darkest crack dens, Calendino reveals all his remarkable moments of struggle, intervention, recovery, and redemption.
Written with Calendino’s most trusted confidant and former high school counsellor Gary Little, building on their first book together, To Hell and Back , this new memoir shares not just Joe’s story but the stories of the hidden angels who saved his life and those of the young people he now strives to help. 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 who needs help, healing, and hope―now more than ever.
With this page-turning memoir, Calendino is living proof that sometimes all it takes is someone believing in you to completely change your life.
288 pages, Paperback
Published August 13, 2024
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November 4, 2025
The Longest Road: To Hell and Back Again from Addiction to Advocacy is as raw as it is redemptive. Joe Calendino’s journey from full-patch Hells Angel to youth advocate is a testament to the power of second chances and the courage to rebuild from rock bottom. Written with honesty and grit, the memoir reminds readers that even in the darkest corners, transformation is possible. It’s not just a story of survival; it’s a call to action for anyone who believes change can ripple outward when one person decides to make it happen.
Displaying 1 of 1 review