The Cycling City : Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s / Evan Friss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Friss, Evan, Author.

Series:

Historical studies of urban America.

Historical Studies of Urban America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cycling--United States--History--19th century.

Cycling.

Bicycle commuting--United States--History--19th century.

Bicycle commuting.

Urban transportation--United States--History--19th century.

Urban transportation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Cycling has experienced a renaissance in the United States, as cities around the country promote the bicycle as an alternative means of transportation. In the process, debates about the nature of bicycles-where they belong, how they should be ridden, how cities should or should not accommodate them-have played out in the media, on city streets, and in city halls. Very few people recognize, however, that these questions are more than a century old. The Cycling City is a sharp history of the bicycle's rise and fall in the late nineteenth century. In the 1890s, American cities were home to more cyclists, more cycling infrastructure, more bicycle friendly legislation, and a richer cycling culture than anywhere else in the world. Evan Friss unearths the hidden history of the cycling city, demonstrating that diverse groups of cyclists managed to remap cities with new roads, paths, and laws, challenge social conventions, and even dream up a new urban ideal inspired by the bicycle. When cities were chaotic and filthy, bicycle advocates imagined an improved landscape in which pollution was negligible, transportation was silent and rapid, leisure spaces were democratic, and the divisions between city and country were blurred. Friss argues that when the utopian vision of a cycling city faded by the turn of the century, its death paved the way for today's car-centric cities-and ended the prospect of a true American cycling city ever being built.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One. The Rise of the Cycling City

Chapter Two. The Cyclists

Chapter Three. Rules of the Road

Chapter Four. Good Roads

Chapter Five. The Bicycle Paths (Not) Taken

Chapter Six. Riding for Recreation and Health

Chapter Seven. Riding for Utility: The Commuters

Chapter Eight. Riding for Reform: Wheelwomen

Chapter Nine. The Crash

Epilogue

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226211077

022621107X

OCLC:

920673901