Customer Reviews

Hearts of Lions : The Story of American Bicycle Racing

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Without question the best book ever written about the history of American cycling! If you could only own one book on the subject, this is it. Readers will be so amazed and proud of those early racers who laid the path for those that followed. Peter Nye makes this history come alive.

Peter Nye has brilliantly captured the almost forgotten past of the Bicycle. From crazy invention to America's most popular sport (at the turn of the century), Nye shares the stories and experiences that vividly illustrate the evolution of bicycling. Today the sport is growing and the book captures the stout spirit of those with "hearts of lions" both past and present.

Probably the best book on American bicycle racing. Every sports journalist should read this one. Since the history of bicyle racing is one of the most forgotten sports in American history, anyone reading this book will learn about the characters and nuances that shaped the sport. A must read for any cyclist and those interested in the sport. If journalists read this one (particularly TV reporters) they would not come across so ignorant when reporting on a cycling related event.

Even if you are not a sports fan, this book is still a great history book. The first black world champion was a cyclist. Cyling had a larger audience than baseball and football combined before radio ... and on and on. Peter Nye brings all of these unknown facts to light in a wonderfully written book. Mr. Nye was a journalist for Washington Post and any of his books are one for the self of any sports or in this case history fan. You can't go wrong buying this book.

This is undoubtedly one of the best books on bicycle history ever written. The author paints a complete panorama about everything you would want to know about the growth and demise of bicycle racing in America that is epic in scope. Peter Nye is a gifted writer and reading the history of American bicycle racing gives you the feeling of being pulled by a whale you have just harpooned. I thought this stuff was lost and that it didn't matter because it wasn't that interesting, anyway because America didn't have any tradition of bicycle racing. Reading it, I felt myself rapidly drawn into a World you never knew existed. He describes in detail the careers of many great American bike racers, many of whom are long forgotten. He describes the race promoters, complex men who made bicycle racing great and who oversaw its sad demise. He documents the organizations that governed bicycle racing and tells what happened to them. After reading this book, I realized I could not have been more wrong. America used to have an outstanding, vibrant and colorful tradition of bicycle racing. Crowds of over 10,000 routinely went to see bike races. Bike racers got paid several times what Babe Ruth did.