Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002 [Hardcover]

Paul Garson (Author), Editors of Easyriders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2003

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a breezy look at the mystique as well as the myths surrounding the love affair between motorcycle enthusiasts and their machines, and its publication is perfectly timed to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the Harley-Davidson company. As the premier American cycle, the Harley and its various permutations grab a sizable amount of the book's pages, and the book provides an excellent short history of the most storied of motorcycles. But the authors are not uncritical of the company's ups and downs-they mention the company's poor quality during the 1970s. The author's real subject is much grander than just a history of technological developments: they want to capture how "the concept of the motorcycle outlaw was as uniquely American as jazz." Decade by decade, the book details the "evolving history" of the cycle, from "cut-down to bobber to custom chopper," at the same time as it connects cycle culture to mass culture, from Brando's movie The Wild One (Brando rode a Triumph) and the history of the leather biker jacket to an excellent critical look at current helmet laws. Readers not familiar with the rough-and-ready style of the popular Easyriders motorcycle magazine may bristle at the authors' unbridled love of the wild side of biking when there were "no multimillion-dollar R&D facilities required, no patents, no DMV rule books, no smog certificates, and no limits." But there is no doubting this is an essential new classic in the field of books on motorcycle culture in general.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A salient feature of this wide-ranging appreciation of motorcycles and their lifestyle is the breezy, informal writing of the flagship journal of chopper piloting, Easy riders. Garson and the other Easyriders editors comprehensively trace the cycle's development, paying respects to foreign manufacturers while maintaining focus where it belongs, on Harley-Davidson and its many satisfied customers. In boxed sidebars, they present life-on-the-road vignettes, and they scatter lots of illustrations throughout. Indeed, the pictures of vintage bikes and striking custom jobs are worth the price of the book--but don't overlook the pictures and stories of noteworthy bike passengers. Sadly, more revealing pictures of distaff scooter lovers, oft seen and loved in issues of Easyriders and other cycle mags, are absent here. Detailed but far from bogged down by it, this is an excellent resource for hog-ridin' fools and those who love them. If it circulates enough, consider a library subscription to its source and, perhaps, some videos of the great annual biker rally at Sturgis, South Dakota. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743225236
• ISBN-13: 978-0743225236
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,143,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

G. Paul Garson was born in Washington, D.C.,grew up in W.Palm Beach,FL, graduating from Forest Hill High School with high grades and a couple expulsions. On to Tulane University in New Orleans where via several miracles he survived and graduated, followed by a educational while teaching and living among migrant worker children, then on to M.A. graduate work in Writing and Literature at The Johns Hopkins U. in Baltimore, during which he won First Place in the Carolina Quarterly National Young Fiction Writers contest, followed by 6 month run to Mexico before returning to more teaching at a private school. Using a small Olivetti typewriter he punched out a science fiction novel immediately taken by Doubelday without so much as a spell check. Then off to L.A. where he worked as a security guard protecting outdoor furniture until securing a job teaching at USC after seeking work as a janitor. Earned an M.F. A. and part of a Ph.D but after not sleeping for six months due to teaching composition, taking more grad classes classes and working nights as a parking lot attendant, he took off on one of his motorcycles and started writing bike and car stories as a Staff Editor at Hot Bike, Car Craft,then Easyriders. A couple motorcycle books later, he began focusing on European WWII history resulting in a massive/obsessive collection of original photos and documents from which magazine features and a book, Album of the Dead, the latter published in 2008. His latest book Eye of the Beholder: Imagery and Ideoloy in Nazi Germany is on its way to the publisher. Several others book in progress with aspirations to creat a documentary film concerning the subject. He continues to ride motorcycles and likes a hot cup of miso soup in the evening.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I like smokin' ice cream, April 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002 (Hardcover)

Okay, the REAL line from Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" is "I like smoke and lightning." But I'm a little deaf, and that's what I hear. Besides, I DO like smokin' ice cream. But I digress. This is the ultimate biker book. Why? Because it's clearly WRITTEN BY A REAL DAMN BIKER! Not a poseur. I've read so many of these biker books, and it's clear the authors don't know their pipe side from their primary side, but this guy Garson does. This is the real story about real bikers with real bikes, in all their variegated forms. It was great riding through biker history with Garson and his bros at Easyriders. As we say 'round these parts: Live to Ride, Ride to Brunch.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting overview of American biker history, September 2, 2011

By 

L. V. Sage "Author of Red, White & Blues" (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002 (Hardcover)

Paul Garson, along with the help of the editors of Easyriders magazine, have put together a fairly comprehensive history of the biker culture here in the good ol' USA. Filled with lots of black & white photos, vintage ads & semi-distracting sidebars, this book is entertaining & packed full of factoids.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Author thinks the sun rises and sets on Harley, January 25, 2004

By 

Michael Greenham "greenham-00" (Raleigh NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes 1947-2002 (Hardcover)

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.