One fan's breathless overview of the impact Harley-Davidson
motorcycles have had on individuals and popular culture. Yates, an
editor-at-large for Car and Driver magazine, has here shifted from
his career focus - on cars (The Critical Path, 1996, etc.) - to
motorcycles. He sets out to examine the peculiar role that
Harley-Davidson has played in the creation of the culture of
motorcycles and "hogs" in particular. The emphasis is more on
people than machines, although the history of the company is a
critical part of this undertaking. An early pioneer in motorcycle
manufacturing, Harley-Davidson developed some unique technical
concepts and survived numerous boom-and-bust cycles in the
country's economy and its own industry. The fabled turnaround of
this enterprise in the 1980s is covered, yet there is not much
explanation of how it occurred. Most of the book deals with
motorcycle enthusiasts, including a long history of celebrity
riders and especially "bikers," scattered clumps of individualists
who find Harley-Davidson motorcycles the ideal symbols for vague
ideas about rebellion and freedom. Somewhere along the way, the
company decided to promote this antiestablishment symbolism rather
than fight it, but in a carefully controlled manner designed to
appeal to would-be riders within the establishment itself. Most of
the corporate coverage is thin and lacks substance. The author
prefers to focus on the culture of Harley fans rather than on the
company. Yates does develop an appealing momentum when talking
about ownership of Harleys in foreign countries, including Japan
and Greece. Unfortunately, this information is too short and comes
at the end of the book. Although Yates's prose otters nothing in
the way of persuasive argument, it is colorful, as when aping the
argot of bikers. Referring to the competition from overseas, for
instance, he lambasts "rice burners" and "Jap scrap" as machines
that may represent technological perfection but lack soul.
Rambling, rarely insightful, and ultimately disappointing.
Generates little original analysis about the Harley phenomenon.
(Kirkus Reviews)
For decades, motorcycles have been the ultimate symbol of danger, rebellion and freedom, and Harley-Davidson bikes have always been the baddest of them all. Now, with OUTLAW MACHINE, noted American automotive writer Brock Yates tells the definitive history of the Harley. Motorcycle culture encompasses men and women, teenagers and retirees, gangs in leather jackets and riders in Brooks Brothers suits. Yates traces Harleys from their relatively wholesome pre-war image (when Clark Gable was a devoted fan) to the birth of the Hells Angels, Easy Rider and their current worldwide status as the ultimate in style and attitude.
He also tells the success story of the company itself - a small family business that transformed itself into the industry leader, only to face bankruptcy after years of Japanese competition. In the 1980s, the company made a stunning turnaround, when white-collar suburbanites rediscovered the Harley - sleek, menacing and loud - as a true American classic.
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