Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002
Posted by Levon in Books
Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002 Take an exhilarating ride through the history of the American bike, biker, and the biker nation in this fascinating and comprehensive chronicle of the biker era and today’s ever-expanding legion of motorcycle enthusiasts. Impassioned, idiosyncratic, and razor sharp, Born to Be Wild traces a century’s worth of the culture, the bikers, and the bikes themselves.
Who are these bikers? Are they those hard-living, leather-clad, tattooed guys often associated with images of the Hells Angels and Satan’s Sinners? Or are they those clean-cut, suit-and-tie wearing riders with the sporty helmets you pass on your daily commute? In fact, they are both, for what began as a subculture of misfits and outlaws has grown into a flourishing society of men and women who celebrate the freedom of the open road and the brotherhood they find among bike enthusiasts of all stripes.
Today’s biker has evolved from the rough-and-tumble antihero to a vast and vibrant biker culture populated by a new breed of rider including the RUBs, or Rich Urban Bikers, and championed by everyone from titans of industry like the late Malcolm Forbes to media celebrities like Jay Leno. And while elements of rebellion still remain intrinsic to the biker mystique, the culture has in fact expanded to include a plethora of riders from the American mainstream — doctors, lawyers, and executives — who love the freedom they find on their bikes and the camaraderie they find with their fellow devotees. It is also a multibillion-dollar industry that draws hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators to its annual events.
Born to Be Wild, written by motorcycle journalist Paul Garson and the editors of Easyriders magazine, captures as never before the spirit and evolution of the biker era. Beginning in 1895, Born to Be Wild traces the development of the modern bike, with special attention to Harley-Davidson’s supreme contributions to the quality of the machines as well as the aesthetics of biker society. Featuring numerous fascinating sidebars that highlight the particular characteristics of the culture, the book also explores the socio-political events that have culminated in the great biker nation that we know today.
With more than two hundred photographs of bikes and bikers across the decades, Born to Be Wild is a definitive work that will open readers’ eyes to a thriving society, one whose celebration of freedom and the open road precisely reflects what is best about our country as a whole.
Customer Review: All About the Harley
I’m giving this book a two star review with reservations… The author spends a lot of time on Harley Davidson and almost totally ignores some iconic machines from our history (Indian, et.al.). On this point I totally agree with the review by Greenham-00, but there is information in this book that makes it a five star work depending on the reader.
The other point you need to ignore is some of the thinly veiled advertising for some Harley custom shops and designers that are blatantly thrown in your face, depending on the chapter’s subject matter.
IF you are buying this book for the history of the Harley Davidson company, you have a five star book, but I wonder why he didn’t wait to publish this work for a couple of years for the 100th anniversary of the HD company’s founding. All and all an interesting read, but a disappointment for lovers of other motorcycle brands from our nation’s history.
Customer Review: The Author thinks the sun rises and sets on Harley
I got this book hoping there would be an unbiased yet informed history of the culture behind the bike and the bikers from an American perspective. What you get is an author who is a piece writer for “Easy Riders Magazine” trying to be that informed historian of the biker culture. His endless use of the word “Bro” to refer to the real biker is out of place in todays vocabulary, and doesn’t fit in in this book. His obvious use of some website that encapsulates the year to year history of Americana thrown in to give perspective of the art, music, and economics of the subject year is BORING and again out of place.
As you read the book, you will find yourself saying “Where’s the beef”. You are always hoping to get to the good stuff. I thought their may be something about the strategic wars and some inner sanctum insight from the bike manufacturers. Nope. Instead you get what amounts to a magazine article spread over way to many pages. There is nothing substantial on Indian, or Excelsior Henderson, or any of the many small yet fleeting American manufacturers that were part of motorcycling history. There is nothing about the people that makes up motorcycling culture. This authors constant need to remind you of the “NP” as he calls them or the “Nicest people”, wears thin very quickly. Of course he is making reference to the Honda ads from the 70’s. “You meet the nicest people on a Honda”. He wants to put the Harley culture in one box and everyone else in another less flattering box.
Skip this book unless you like reading a 200+ page Easy Riders article on how if it weren’t for the Harley’s and the Davidson’s, There may never have been a motorcycle.
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