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Title details for The World's Fastest Man by Michael Kranish - Available

The World's Fastest Man

The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero

by Michael Kranish
David Sadzin
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
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).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 7, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781508286400
      • File size: 340192 KB
      • Duration: 11:48:43

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      David Sadzin offers a solid narration that reflects the author's straightforward style in this biography. Marshall "Major" Taylor was a professional bicycle racer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because he was black, he had to battle more than speedy competitors. While he fought bigotry both on and off the track throughout his career, racial prejudice forced him to find his greatest success overseas. Without any false emotion, Sadzin varies his pacing to match the dramatic narrative. Direct quotes are few and are usually short, so Sadzin wisely introduces them with only momentary pauses. Overall, this is an engaging story narrated in an equally engaging way. R.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 11, 2019
      Political reporter Kranish (Trump Revealed) narrates the life of Marshall “Major” Taylor, an African-American man who became the world’s greatest cyclist in what was one of the nation’s most popular sports at the turn of the 20th century. Taylor (1878–1932) was raised in Indianapolis and hoped to become the greatest cyclist in America; he fought against racism from the start of his career as a teenager, writing letters to the League of American Wheelsmen after the organization proposed a ban on blacks from racing, and to the cyclist magazine Bearings (“I am a cyclist; further, I am a negro... I think it’s high time for someone of my color to say a few words”). Kranish drew from past interviews with Taylor’s friends and family members—as well as his 90-year-old daughter—who shared stories of life in Jim Crow America as well as recollections of Taylor’s races (Taylor also meticulously kept clippings of every news item in which he was mentioned). Taylor competed throughout the world and, at the 1899 ICA Track Cycling Championship in Montreal, became the first African-American world champion of a sport—a decade before boxer Jack Johnson became a heavyweight boxing champion. Toward the end of his career, Taylor refused to enter competitions in a segregated U.S., turning his attention instead to Europe. Kranish provides a sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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