For all its ugly truths, a well-mulled compilation. Only born outlaws will be drawn to the motorcycle life by these...
Journalist and motorcycle aficionado Zanetti has assembled a heady collection that strikes every imaginable pose in its celebration of the motorcycle, that transport to lawlessness and freewheeling.
Once the exhaust fumes of this collection have cleared, the motorcycle’s bad-boy reputation will remain intact. Some of the 29 contributors are bike fans pure and simple, like Fred Haefele and his Indians. A couple of others—Tom McGuane and his Matchless 500, Rachel Kushner and her maniac stem-to-stern Baha race—have brief flings. Robert Pirsig indulges in pre-Socratic ruminations over his beefy machine. But it is the outlaw—from Hell’s Angels, Satan’s Slaves, Coffin Cheaters, Pagans (“Hairy, bearded, swastika toting sixties style outlaws . . . hicksters and Southrons”)—who holds the spotlight here. He might be one of the boys himself, like Sonny Barger, Hell’s Angels’ leader, who notes that his first machine was a Cushman scooter—a disturbing image, though he probably wasn’t wearing a sawed-off denim jacket at 13—or the truly scary Frank Reynolds, who blithely goes on about raping women. Or he could be one of a number of writers, from Tom Wolfe, who describes a crazywild collision between the Merry Pranksters and the Hell’s Angels, to Hunter S. Thompson, who comes across in an excerpt from Life Styles (much of this material is culled from elsewhere) as badder than the bad guys, hungry for something sick and violent: “I wasn’t particularly opposed to the idea of a riot, but I didn’t want it to happen right then, and with my car in the middle.”
For all its ugly truths, a well-mulled compilation. Only born outlaws will be drawn to the motorcycle life by these writings; a brief sojourn among the bikers, and then only a careful selection of them, will be enough for most.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-56025-317-7
Page Count: 326
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
