Pedaling Revolution

How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities

By Mapes, Jeff

Publishers Summary:
In a world of growing traffic congestion, expensive oil, and threats of cataclysmic climate change, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on the streets of urban cityscapes. In Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes explores the growing urban bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities across the U.S. He rides with bike advocates who are taming the streets of New York City, joins the street circus that is Critical Mass in San Francisco, and gets inspired by the everyday folk pedaling in Amsterdam, the nirvana of American bike activists. Mapes, a seasoned political journalist and long-time bike commuter, explores the growth of bicycle advocacy while covering such issues as the environmental, safety, and health aspects of bicycling for short urban trips. His rich cast of characters includes Noah Budnick, a young bicycle advocate in New York who almost died in a crash near the Brooklyn Bridge, and Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), who took to bicycling in his fifties and helped unleash a new flood of federal money for bikeways. Chapters set in Chicago and Portland show how bicycling has became a political act, with seemingly dozens of subcultures, and how cyclists, with the encouragement of local officials, are seizing streets back from motorists. Pedaling Revolution is essential reading for the approximately one million people who regularly ride their bike to work or on errands, for anyone engaged in transportation, urban planning, sustainability, and public health—and for drivers trying to understand why they’re seeing so many cyclists. All will be interested in how urban bike activists are creating the future of how we travel and live in twenty-first-century cities.

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ISBN
978-0-87071-419-1
Publisher
Oregon State University


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on March 1, 2009

As Americans consider how to solve the problems of global warming, traffic congestion, high gas prices, and health problems linked to physical inactivity, bicycles have received a lot of attention. Mapes (senior political reporter, the Oregonian) provides a deftly drawn portrait of contemporary bike culture and politics, together with a concise history of the bicycle's roots and its early influence on American society. He profil...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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