Pedal Power - Book Review

Professor of Political Science at DePaul University in Chicago and bike enthusiast J. Harry Wray has turned this oft-used phrase into a well documented account of the rise of bicycling in America. Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life chronicles everything from underground bike movements to mainstream political figures in favor of biking as an enjoyable and environmentally friendly form of transportation and recreation. Wray discusses the dominance of the vehicle as a status symbol in the twentieth century and the bicycle’s triumphant comeback in the twenty-first.

As Americans everywhere worry about the economy, rising gas prices, climate issues, and stressful daily lives, biking has become a solution and escape from such problems. Political figures are taking notice, citizens are banning together to promote awareness, and everyday Americans are getting on their bikes like never before. Wray touches on all of this in his new book, as well as in the classes he teaches at DePaul University. In one course, he even takes students on bike tours of Chicago, as a means to show how politics, economics, and the environment combine to affect culture and be affected by it. The bicycle movement is a result of a new way of life as well as a force of change. Pedal Power is more than just a book about bikes; it discusses the way society has evolved and the role of bicycles in this change. Through his writing as well as his lifestyle, Wray proves that biking changes the way we see the world, and are therefore affected by it. He has developed an inspiring and informative tale and has become an integral force in the evolution of the bicycle as well as urban society.

Pedal Power is a passionate and detailed account of the national growing interest in biking. The book includes everything from interviews with key political figures and how they have helped to implement bike friendly policies to accounts of eccentric groups like critical mass and the rat patrol. It discusses the evolution of the bike from a novelty for a select group to an integral part of society, a change that Americans are still fully in the middle of witnessing. Pedal Power is a must read for any and all cyclists, especially those of us who choose to use city streets as our riding grounds.