Description
Book SynopsisBased on ten years of research-including extensive interviews with Major Taylor's 91-year old daughter-this is the dramatic story of a young black man who, against prodigious odds, rose to fame and stardom in the tempestuous world of international professional bicycle racing a century ago.
Trade ReviewAs Andrew Ritchie's excellent biography demonstrates, [Taylor] became a cycling star not only through natural talent. He also had what one might call a force of dignity. -- Tim Hilton Times Literary Supplement A point made by Mr. Ritchie... in this earnest and well-researched study is that Taylor, only the second black after the boxer George Dixon to win a world championship, hardly left a trace that he had passed. -- Samuel Abt New York Times Book Review Member of an oppressed race, hero in a nation with limited historical memory, this man, who had been so well known and whose life was so interesting, has been virtually forgotten. Ritchie's book admirably recaptures the story for us. -- Elliott J. Gorn Journal of American History
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Chapter 1. Prologue
Chapter 2. Early Guidance and Inspiration
Chapter 3. Bicycle Boom and Jim Crow
Chapter 4. Precocious Teenager, Colored Champion of America
Chapter 5. Rising Star
Chapter 6. New Horizons, New Opposition
Chapter 7. The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World
Chapter 8. Champion of America at Last
Chapter 9. Superstar
Chapter 10. World Traveler and International Celebrity
Chapter 11. Comeback and Decline
Chapter 12. Difficult Adjustment
Chapter 13. Autobiography and Illness
Chapter 14. Chicago Tragedy
Author's Postscript
About the Photographs
Illustrations, Picture Sources, and Credits
Notes and Sources
Glossary of Bicycle Racing Terminology
Bibliography
Index
