Wild Ride: How Outlaw Motorcycle Myth Conquered AmericaWild Ride traces the history of the biker movement, from its beginnings in the years following World War II -- when many American GIs found the transition back to civilian life too severe, and opted instead to exorcise their combat demons by forming riding clubs -- to its current (and to many crass) commercialization in the form of Harley Davidson Cafes. The trip from 1940s outlaw to 1990s Rich Urban Biker (RUB) is indeed a wild one, taking the reader through the popularization of outlaw bikers in films like Easy Rider, their symbolic death at Altamont and decline throughout the seventies, and the repackaging and marketing of their image in the eighties nnd nineties, a process personified by billionaire Malcolm Forbes astride bis iron horse. Reynolds interviews many of the leading figures associated with the outlaw movement, from the veterans who helped form the first biker clubs in the 1940s to movie stars anal wild riders like Peter Fonda, Robert Blake, and Ken Kesey. Wild Ride is an enthralling story and in many ways the secret history of post-World War II America. |
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Page 14
... problems for decades , exhibiting many of the psychic scars that society often associates with Vietnam veterans . There is nothing Hollywood about Trash's afflictions : he doesn't freak out every time he hears a Doors song on the radio ...
... problems for decades , exhibiting many of the psychic scars that society often associates with Vietnam veterans . There is nothing Hollywood about Trash's afflictions : he doesn't freak out every time he hears a Doors song on the radio ...
Page 73
... problem but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins . " These were undoubtedly harsh words for an earnest man like Kramer who only wanted to examine an impending " social prob- lem . " ( He was often admired for his didactic ...
... problem but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins . " These were undoubtedly harsh words for an earnest man like Kramer who only wanted to examine an impending " social prob- lem . " ( He was often admired for his didactic ...
Page 120
... problem with riots as a rule , and some of them even voiced their disappointment that they weren't in Laconia to or- chestrate the madness . But the reality was they had nothing to do with the fracas ; it only sounded like something ...
... problem with riots as a rule , and some of them even voiced their disappointment that they weren't in Laconia to or- chestrate the madness . But the reality was they had nothing to do with the fracas ; it only sounded like something ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
In the Beginning | 31 |
He and Friends Terrorize Town | 45 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown
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13 Rebels actor Altamont American beer bike biker films bill Boozefighters Brando Brother Hank Butch café racer California called Captain America Carter chapter Charlie Company Chino concert cops Corman crowd Dave Nichols Davidson dollars drug Easy Rider Easyriders engine Fonda Forkner front fucking gang Gene Vincent going Harley Harley-Davidson Hayward Hell's Angels helmet law Hollister Honda Hopper Ibid INTERVIEWER Jim Cameron Kesey kicked knew Kramer later leather jacket looked magazine Marty Maysles motor motorcycle club motorcyclists movie named never Oakland one-percenter outlaw bikers outlaw club parked Peter Fonda play police racing rally rape Ratso riding rock rockabilly rockers rode Roger Corman Rolling Stones Rosenblum Sacramento says script Sonny Barger speed stage Stanley Kramer started street Thompson thousand told took town track Trash truck trying veterans Vietnam wanted wearing weekend weeks Wethern Wild Wino