There are a few things you need before you can legally broadcast on the frequencies (bands) assigned to amateur radio.

1. You need to know what frequencies are defined for the primary use of amateur radio (and what primary and secondary use means)
2. You need to know what kind of things are broadcast in different parts of those bands (it's not all chatter)
3. You need to know the limitations on broadcasting in those bands (language, power, time and a little bit of physics)
4. You need to get a ham radio license to broadcast
5. And most of all, you need to understand that this really is a lot simpler than it may first appear.

There are three levels of license available for amateur or ham radio. All three licenses are good for 10 years and are available for anyone. And the ability to send or receive Morse Code is not required for any of the tests!

The entry level is called Technician and allows voice (or "phone") transmissions on the VHF (2 meters / 144MHz) and UHF (70 centimeter / 420MHz) bands, very limited voice on the 10 meter / 28MHz band and CW (Morse Code) on the 80 meter / 3.5MHz and 40 meter / 7MHz bands. The Technician test has 35 questions out of a pool of nearly 400, and covers topics like basic FCC regulations, ham radio operating practices and some radio and antenna theory.

The next level is the General license and entitles the operator to use all of the Technician bands but adds voice capability in the 2200, 630, 160, 80, 60, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands, frequencies from 135KHz to 28 MHz. The General licensee is also allowed to use the digital modes, and SSB, RTTY, USB/LSB in the reserved portions of those bands, and more importantly, the General will know what those terms mean. The test offered only to those with a Technician license and is a little more technical than the prior test, with more atmospheric physics, antenna theory and deeper technical material.

The Amateur Extra license opens up all operating privileges, all operating modes, and all amateur bands. The Extra test is only given to those with a General license and has 50 questions of much greater detail.

No, linking to the questions is not cheating. ARRL changes each question set every four years, but these are made public so people CAN learn them through software tools, PowerPoint decks or flash cards.

ARRL Technician Question Pool: PDF or DOCX
ARRL General Question Pool: PDF or DOCX These are valid through the end of June 2019. NEEDS UPDATE
ARRL Amateur Extra Question Pool: PDF or DOCX Valid through the end of June 2020. NEEDS UPDATE

Many organizations offer classes. I attended a two Saturday (9-5) class at the Duvall, Washington Fire Station hosted by the nice volunteers at the Snoqualmie Valley Amateur Radio Club, or SnoVARC.
I bought the following two books to learn some of the theory in addition to going over the questions.
Technician - The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual Spiral Bound
Amateur Extra - The ARRL Extra Class License Manual Spiral Bound
I did not buy the General manual. Long story short, I downloaded the General questions during the first day of the Technician class and spent the next week studying them instead of the Technician questions since I felt pretty comfortable with the Technician material. Fortunately the strategy worked out well at test time.
Note - The General questions are changing July 1, 2019. Use the links above for tests prior to June 30, and the 9th Edition for tests after that.

There are apps for android and iOS that allow practice tests in small blocks, maybe 8 or 10 questions. They use the actual questions and allow several test modes. I preferred to use random questions, with immediate correction so I could see what I picked if it was wrong.
Online practice: HamExam.org Amateur Radio Practice Exams   and   QRZ.com Practice Amateur Radio Exams
The HamExam.org site also has the entire question list in a nice format and shows the schematics used in a few questions.
The ham-cram site offers the option to only display the right answers, which some claim to be superior preparation.

Prior to the exam, perhaps weeks prior, or right now if you know you're going to do this, you need to go to the FCC and get a unique identification number called an FRN (FCC Registration Number).

• Go to www.fcc.gov, mouse over Licenses & Databases and click on ULS.
• On the next page under the area marked Filing, click the link for New User Registration
• Then on the next page click on Register and receive your FRN.
• You will need to enter your Social Security Number into the form (so all web security warnings apply), but the FRN generated here will be your unique identifier for all FCC and Ham Radio transactions instead of your SS number.

You will need this FRN to take the exam so do it ahead of time.

My initial experience was at the exams offered by the SnovARC members, monitored by VEs (Volunteer Examiners) from the Lake Washington club, and took place at the Duvall Fire Station. It was the last two hours of the second day of a two Saturday Technician class. The exam was $15, and for that fee I was able to sit for all three exams, Technician, General and Extra. Submission of the General and Extra were conditional based on passing the lower level test. More on that in a bit.

Two hours were scheduled for the SnovARC exam session and if you take all three exams it could take most of that time.

During the exam you cannot have anything on the desk except for a non-programmable calculator with nothing stored in any memory locations. The VE will take your money, give you an examination registration form (I believe this is the NCVEC Quick Form 605 Application for Amateur Operator form) where you will apply your new FRN, name, address, email for notification, etc. Once that is complete they will bring you a sheet of questions and an answer sheet. You read the question and color in the desired multiple choice responses. When you're satisfied with the answers you hand the question sheet and your answers to the VE and they'll ask if you want to go ahead and take the General while they grade the Technician exam. If you pass, they will tell you and allow you to continue with the General. When you hand that in the same process will be applied for the Extra exam. If you fail the Technician your General exam results will be invalid, etc.

At the end of the exam(s) the VEs who graded your exam(s) will sign the form 605 application and note all of the exams you passed. They will then process that information through the FCC. In about a week and a half or two weeks you will get an email from the FCC with a link to your new license. Save the PDF to your cloud, print a copy, sign it, laminate the wallet-sized, and start pronoucing your call sign phonetically!

Interesting information for tracking new licenses and callsigns can be accessed through AE7Q and Radio QTH, as well as through the FCC's ULS.

If all of this worked, you are now an ambassador for radio sports and activities. You are officially eligible for a ballcap and vanity license plates with your new callsign!

Training and Testing Schedules	(KE0OG) Dave Casler's Amateur Extra Videos, Version 11
Western Washington Amateur Radio Licensing Classes	Extra Amateur Extra Course Introduction (8:40) Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview (10:26) Section 2.1 General Operating Section 2.2 Digital Mode Operating Section 2.3 Amateur Satellites, consists of two videos. Section 2.3 - Part 1: Orbital mechanics. Section 2.3 - Part 2: Telecommunications aspects of amateur satellites. Section 3.1 Operating Standards, Section 3.2 Station Restrictions, Section 3.3 Station Control, Section 3.4 Amateur-Satellite Service, Section 3.5 Volunteer Examiner Program, Section 3.6 Miscellaneous Rules, Section 4.1 Radio Mathematics, Section 4.2 Electric and Magnetic Fields, Section 4.3, Principles of Circuits, consists of two videos: Section 4.3 - Part 1: Time constants, phase angle, complex impedance, and reactive power and power factor, Section 4.3 - Part 2: Resonance, Q (quality factor), magnetic cores, Section 5.1 Semiconductor Devices, Section 5.2 Display Devices, Section 5.3 Digital Logic, Section 5.4 Optoelectronics,	Section 6.1 Amplifiers, Section 6.2 Signal Processing, Section 6.3 Digital Signal Processing and Software-Defined Radio, Section 6.4 Filters and Impedance Matching, Section 6.5 Power Supplies, Section 7.1 AC Waveforms and Measurements, Section 7.2 Test Equipment, Section 7.3 Receiver Performance, Section 7.4 Interference and Noise, Section 8.1 Modulation Systems, Section 8.2 Digital Protocols and Modes, Section 8.3 Amateur Television, Section 9.1 Basics of Antennas, Section 9.2 Practical Antennas, Section 9.3 Antenna Systems, Section 9.4 Transmission Lines, Section 9.5 Antenna Design, Section 10.1 Solar Effects, Section 10.2 HF Propagation, Section 10.3 VHF/UHF/Microwave Propagation, Section 11.1 Hazardous Materials, Section 11.2 RF Exposure, Section 11.3 Grounding and Bonding,
SnoVARC Training
ARRL: Licensing, Education and Training
If you dig around on Dave Casler's Youtube channel you will find similar videos for the Technician and General material. He's even made playlists for all three: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. He's made over 200 videos on all kinds of Amateur Radio subjects, radio reviews, antennas, costs, etc.