Born to Be Wild: The Rise of the American Motorcyclist
Randy D. McBee
Abstract
In 1947, 4,000 motorcycle hobbyists converged on Hollister, California. As images of dissolute bikers graced the pages of newspapers and magazines, the three-day gathering sparked the growth of a new subculture while also touching off national alarm. In the years that followed, the stereotypical leather-clad biker emerged in the American consciousness as a menace to law-abiding motorists and small towns. Yet a few short decades later, the motorcyclist, once menacing, became mainstream. To understand this shift, this book narrates the evolution of motorcycle culture since World War II.
Keywords: motorcycle hobbyists, Hollister, California, bikers, motorists, motorcycle culture, subculture
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 | Print ISBN-13: 9781469622729 |
| Published to North Carolina Scholarship Online: January 2016 | DOI:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469622729.001.0001 |
