Customer Reviews

Chucks!: The Phenomenon of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was very excited in the last fall when I heard that a book about "Chucks" was being published. I raced to get my copy quickly, and had it within the first month. It was a very fast read and had some great information and cool pictures. However, I would have liked to see more "vintage" photos from the "Chucks as basketball shoes" era. Also, I thought there was perhaps too much focus on the classic black chucks (although admittingly they are by far the most popular style. There was also a huge error in the book. The author claims that "Optical white" was the second Chuck Taylor model to be released. Actually, unbleached is clearly the older of the two. Optical weren't invented until at least the 1960s and were still pretty rare into the 1990s, although they are much more common than the unbleached now (which are still a "core color"). It was clearly the unbleached and NOT the Optical that Mr. Taylor liked the best. I suppose Peterson was confused because advertisements before the 1960s were never taken from photographs and what was drawn looked like optical white.
Peterson's comments about "nothing saying 1950s like Chuck Taylors" are also off-base. Although they existed at the time, it is quite difficult to find any TV or movie clips prior to the 1970s that feature them (oddly one of the most famous examples-Opie Taylor on the extremely popular Andy Griffith Show, was not mentioned in the book). A better way to phrase it would have been "nothing says "pretending to be the 1950s like Chuck Taylors." Chances are if a movie or TV show made in the last 35 years is set in the 1950s or 1960s, you will probably see some guy wearing Chucks. If he isn't a basketball player, it's probably not realistic. It would be interesting to explore exactly why so many people in charge of wardrobe for these retro movies/TV shows seem to think all the guys wore Chucks in those days. Overall, a pretty good book and I've ordered many pairs of shoelaces from the website.

Converse made and continues to make the best and coolest sneakers ever. This book tells the story of Chucks in words and lots of color pictures. A must have for every Converse fan.

Great book and well written. Full of wonderful photography of the Chucks in both high tops and low cut style. Filled to the max with info and easy to read stories from folks all across the country. Great item for any guy (or gal) who is fascinated with Chucks and the history of this American icon of a shoe. Get the book and a lace up your favorite high tops Chucks and enjoy the reading.

I was pretty underwhelmed with this book. While I appreciated the history of chucks that was included, and info on Taylor himself, a lot of the book read more like an advertisement for chucks. There were entire paragraphs dedicated to single colors and stylistic details, which I thought was a bit excessive. And the fact that chucks went from being made in the USA to being manufactured by slave labor in Asia was entirely glossed over. Beyond that, the book is well-written and nicely produced, and would be a nice overview for someone entirely unfamiliar with chucks.

I learned more about the history of my fave shoes than I bargained for. Something I'll reccommend to my Converse-loving friends!

Great book about the greatest sneakers ever made...Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars. I am a fan of the black hi top Chucks. They are the best.

actually i'm expecting catalogue for All Star product ,
can't find too many items here