Outlaw Machine: Harley-Davidson and the Search for the American Soul [Paperback]

Brock Yates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000

The legendary story of Harley-Davidson's rise to power--not only as an international industry leader but as an American cultural icon.

How did the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, originally a machine for casual riders, evolve into a symbol of defiance and liberation? An embellished 1947 Life magazine article about a California town terrorized by gangs of motorcycle punks changed the world's perception of motorcycles from sporty machines to menaces-to-society, and as the loudest and heaviest bikes on the market, Harley-Davidsons were considered the baddest of them all.

Outlaw Machine chronicles the fascinating social history that built Harley-Davidson's reputation--including the rise of Hell's Angels and the counterculture classic Easy Rider--and, more entrancing still, the bike's and its company's storybook rise to international fame and popularity. Written by renowned automotive journalist Brock Yates, Outlaw Machine is the definitive book on the Harley-Davidson and its place in American culture.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle, writes Brock Yates, is a quintessentially American machine: "flawed but honest and forthright, bombastic and audacious like the nation that produced it." Anyone who has pulled off the road to let a pack of Hells Angels roar by, or who has watched an executive trade in his Rolex for leather chaps and a custom Softail, also knows that the allure of the Harley is its rebellious, bad-guy mystique. In Outlaw Machine, Yates sets out to document the history of Harley-Davidson, as a company and as a symbol that helped create--and now sustains--American motorcycle culture.

What Yates gives us, in prose that aims for the sound and fury of his subject but sometimes suffers from a lack of agility, is a modern American success story--"the long ride of the Harley-Davidson into the mainstream." It is the story of how the Harley became the vehicle of choice for rebels and outlaw bikers; how the company distanced itself from this media-enhanced, antiestablishment image as it suffered the onslaught of Japanese imports; how the company stumbled, close to bankruptcy, into the '80s when it realized that the hard-core biker contingent exhibited unequaled brand loyalty. "If this rebelliousness, this sheer vitality and off-the-wall lust for the elemental life could somehow be tapped to offset the seamless onslaught of the Japanese, perhaps ... Harley-Davidson could survive."

Harley-Davidson has capitalized on its "reputation of veiled menace" to establish a marketing niche for the record books, and its classically styled, gleaming machines have become one of the most sought-after status symbols of the '90s. Yet Yates suggests that the Harley's power transcends the mainstream's co-option of its renegade image. "If that rumble, that ungodly roar, that death threat to collectivism and convention dies away, it will be time to turn out the lights." --Svenja Soldovieri --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Few people would dispute that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are sluggish, expensive gas-guzzlers, outperformed by their quicker, more up-to-date Japanese counterparts. How is it, then, that the antediluvian Harley is wildly popular, coveted and revered by hard-core riders and RUBs (Rich Urban Bikers) alike? Yates offers a detailed history-cum-explanation. William Harley, and brothers Arthur and Walter Davidson, operating out of a shed in the Davidsons' backyard in Milwaukee, were an early success. But the company spent decades struggling once it became clear that automobiles, not motorcycles, would be the transportation of the future. After WWII, the company's survival came at a price: media hype about gangs like the Hell's Angels, and a spate of exploitation movies culminating in Easy Rider, effectively defined the bike as the plaything of rebels and ruffians. Yet it is precisely this association, long scorned by management, that lies behind Harley-Davidson's current revival. The HarleyAwith its bulk, its propensity to break down, its V-twin design unchanged since 1909 and its thundering noiseAhas become an American icon. While this book covers all the major moments in the company'sAand the bikes'Ahistory, Yates's attempts to link social history with the rise and fall of the motorcycle's appeal are forced. The prose can be turgid: Harley riders "assume an attitude of bloated potency and importance embodied in the motorcycle itself." Ultimately, the players in this storyAfrom the pioneers who created the legendary machine to the devotees who ride and adulate itAnever come to life as fully as does the motorcycle itself. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767905164
• ISBN-13: 978-0767905169
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,041,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brock Yates has delivered!!!, August 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Port St. John, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outlaw Machine: Harley Davidson and the Search for the American Soul (Hardcover)

This is a thinking man's guide to Harley Davidson, but moreover a thoughtful anaysis of what primeval forces are at work in the market place and in our psyches causing us to lust after such a machine. Brock Yates addresses such questions as: Why do respectable dentists and stock brokers long to be week-end outlaws; why does riding a Harley symbolize rebellion against an over-regulatory society; and why do the clueless Japanese continue to offer high tech versions of the Harley.

Personally, I never knew absolutely why I chose to ride a Harley or why I continue to cling to the nebulous Harley Davidson mystique, but after reading this book, I think I do. This book is a must read for the Harley enthusiast or even the non-enthusiast who simply wants to understand all the fuss!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The little bit of outlaw in all of us, March 2, 2000

By 

Frank Steiner (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outlaw Machine: Harley Davidson and the Search for the American Soul (Hardcover)

Do you ask yourself what is the reason someone would buy a outdated technology like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Or why on-lookers will crowd around a Harley-Davidson in a parking lot and ooohh and aaahhh the antique like chromed HOG. Most Harley riders will say, "if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand." By reading the Outlaw Machine it is possible to understand without being part of that exclusive, in the know, Harley crowd. Brock Yates starts out as if he is a Harley antagonist in favor of Japanese and German sport bikes, but you soon realize he is setting the stage for a truely hard hitting romp through the American psyche. His travels through the American and Harley history makes it very clear what it is that so many see in the Harley motorcycle and what is missing in the Japanese copies.

If you sit proudly on your high tech Japanese cruiser with the feeling of superiority with your nose down to all the Harley riders, you may just change your mind once you read Outlaw Machine. You may also find yourself saving your pennies so you too can have a piece of the American iron. Mr. Yates makes no appologizes or excuses for Harley-Davidson and is brutely honest about its technology, but he does bring us closer to why it is so loved as an America tradition and points out that there is a little bit of outlaw in all of us. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the true mystery of motorcycling.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take it for a ride, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Outlaw Machine: Harley-Davidson and the Search for the American Soul (Paperback)

Brock Yates provides a compelling overview of the Harley-Davidson history, and interesting thoughts on what Harley means to America. In some cases his philsophical pronouncements exceed his grasp, and in a few spots he becomes repetitive. Still, as a Harley owner, I greatly enjoyed the book. It does not get mired in tech specs, nor in meaningless detail of the Davidson family lineage. It is definitely not a hagiography -- he strikes the balance between pointing out flaws and giving credit where due. Others here say he stumbled on some history, but I value his writing that quickly moved me from cover to cover. It hits the high spots, and entertainingly tells me more about the Harley company and history than I knew before.