- Home
- Sports & Recreation
- Cycling
- The World's Fastest Man (The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero) - 9781501192609
The World's Fastest Man (The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero) - 9781501192609
List Price:
$19.99
- Availability: Confirm prior to ordering
- Branding: minimum 50 pieces (add’l costs below)
- Check Freight Rates (branded products only)
Branding Options (v), Availability & Lead Times
- 1-Color Imprint: $2.00 ea.
- Promo-Page Insert: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed, single-sided page)
- Belly-Band Wrap: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed)
- Set-Up Charge: $45 per decoration
- Availability: Product availability changes daily, so please confirm your quantity is available prior to placing an order.
- Branded Products: allow 10 business days from proof approval for production. Branding options may be limited or unavailable based on product design or cover artwork.
- Unbranded Products: allow 3-5 business days for shipping. All Unbranded items receive FREE ground shipping in the US. Inquire for international shipping.
- RETURNS/CANCELLATIONS: All orders, branded or unbranded, are NON-CANCELLABLE and NON-RETURNABLE once a purchase order has been received.
Product Details
Author:
Michael Kranish
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
384
Publisher:
Scribner (June 29, 2021)
Language:
English
ISBN-13:
9781501192609
ISBN-10:
1501192604
Dimensions:
5.5" x 8.375" x 1"
Case Pack:
20
File:
Eloquence-SimonSchuster_04022026_P9912986_onix30_Complete-20260402.xml
Folder:
Eloquence
List Price:
$19.99
As low as:
$15.39
Publisher Identifier:
P-SS
Discount Code:
A
Weight:
13.04oz
Audience:
General/trade
Pub Discount:
65
Imprint:
Scribner
Overview
In this “sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend” (Publishers Weekly)—the remarkable Major Taylor who became the world’s fastest bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era—“Kranish has done historians and fans a service by reminding us that such immortals as Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods all followed in Major Taylor’s wake” (The Washington Post).
In the 1890s, the nation’s promise of equality had failed spectacularly. While slavery had ended with the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws still separated blacks from whites, and the excesses of the Gilded Age created an elite upper class. When Major Taylor, a young black man, announced he wanted to compete in the nation’s most popular and mostly white man’s sport, cycling, Birdie Munger, a white cyclist who once was the world’s fastest man, declared that he could help turn the young black athlete into a champion.
Twelve years before boxer Jack Johnson and fifty years before baseball player Jackie Robinson, Taylor faced racism at nearly every turn—especially by whites who feared he would disprove their stereotypes of blacks. In The World’s Fastest Man, years in the writing, investigative journalist Michael Kranish reveals new information about Major Taylor based on a rare interview with his daughter and other never-before-uncovered details from Taylor’s life. Kranish shows how Taylor indeed became a world champion, traveled the world, was the toast of Paris, and was one of the most chronicled black men of his day.
From a moment in time just before the arrival of the automobile when bicycles were king, the populace was booming with immigrants, and enormous societal changes were about to take place, “both inspiring and heartbreaking, this is an essential contribution to sports history” (Booklist, starred review). The World’s Fastest Man “restores the memory of one of the first black athletes to overcome the drag of racism and achieve national renown” (The New York Times Book Review).
In the 1890s, the nation’s promise of equality had failed spectacularly. While slavery had ended with the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws still separated blacks from whites, and the excesses of the Gilded Age created an elite upper class. When Major Taylor, a young black man, announced he wanted to compete in the nation’s most popular and mostly white man’s sport, cycling, Birdie Munger, a white cyclist who once was the world’s fastest man, declared that he could help turn the young black athlete into a champion.
Twelve years before boxer Jack Johnson and fifty years before baseball player Jackie Robinson, Taylor faced racism at nearly every turn—especially by whites who feared he would disprove their stereotypes of blacks. In The World’s Fastest Man, years in the writing, investigative journalist Michael Kranish reveals new information about Major Taylor based on a rare interview with his daughter and other never-before-uncovered details from Taylor’s life. Kranish shows how Taylor indeed became a world champion, traveled the world, was the toast of Paris, and was one of the most chronicled black men of his day.
From a moment in time just before the arrival of the automobile when bicycles were king, the populace was booming with immigrants, and enormous societal changes were about to take place, “both inspiring and heartbreaking, this is an essential contribution to sports history” (Booklist, starred review). The World’s Fastest Man “restores the memory of one of the first black athletes to overcome the drag of racism and achieve national renown” (The New York Times Book Review).
