Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.