Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to Be the World's Fastest Human Being

by Todd Balf

Book Overview

The story of a man who transcended the handicaps of race to become America's first African American mega sports celebrity At the turn of the 20th century, hundreds of lightning-fast racers won the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307236587
• ISBN13: 9780307236586
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Intro to Taylor's Life

This is the first book I've read about Major Taylor, and it made me want to read more about this man. I enjoyed the details of the bike races when cycling was top dog in America. As the author points out at the end of the book, there was a chance for it to gain more widespread popularity, but the Landis scandal, among other things, worked against it. Taylor's story deserves to be told and known, given what he accomplished and experienced in his life. I hope someone gets ahold of this and makes a high quality biopic.

Phenomenal book

I picked this book by chance, because I'm a cyclist and wanted to know more about Major Taylor. It was a gripping tale of a cyclist who created his own destiny, overcoming incredible racial prejudice to establish himself as the best track cyclist in the world. From his boyhood in Indianapolis, and his move to Worcester, MA, the story chronicles every part of Taylor's cycling career. The chapter describing Taylor's match-up with Floyd McFarland in Australia is the most exciting climax of any book I've ever read. McFarland was the racist rival who opposed Taylor's attempts to race in the United States, and literally tried to run him off the track when they did meet. This book takes you back to an era before cars, where high speed cycling on banked velodromes drew huge crowds, and an African-American cyclist was one of the highest paid athletes in the world. Todd Balf is a phenomenal author who captures the feeling of an era, and he has thoroughly researched Taylor's life.

An excellent, entertaining read.

I read (and still own) the Andrew Ritchie book on Taylor and wondered what Todd Balf would have to add? I have to admit I've often not liked some of his magazine articles but whether I've changed since then or he's become a much better writer is open to question. I think he's become a better writer. I remember reading Ritchie's book like a textbook. I felt I needed to read it, but rarely was it enjoyable. Balf's on the other hand (even though I already knew the basic story) was hard to put down. I'm sure I'll read it again. If you want a definitive "textbook" on Major Taylor, Andrew Ritchie's your author. If you're looking for an enjoyable book about Major Taylor, it's Todd Balf's by a bike-length...or two!

Victorian Fury

I was wandering through the bookstore when this intense yellow cover with a crouched black rider (Marshall "Major" Taylor) caught my eye. I had an idea who Major was -- an early black cyclist -- but had no idea how great and popular he was in his heyday. The book succeeded for me on several levels. First, Todd Balf has done his historian's work, culling from many sources, including newspapers, period magazines, diaries, etc, to give the reader a deep, balanced view the lost work of 90th century track racing. He begins with the bicycle itself, from its mechanical evolution to its impressive impact on society. Then it is on to racing. I found this world utterly riveting, with such events as the 6 day races in Madison Square Garden, where racers battled one another as well as sleep deprivation over 6 days straight, ending with spectacular crashes, hallucinations, and death, or the match races set against huge grandstands in every major American city, or the speed record attempts where riders would draft behind locomotives or other large machines, often getting crushed in the process. It was a frenetic time, the nexus of Victorian sensibility, the rise of the machine, urbanization, racism, the rise of professional sports. Out of all this emerges the character of Marshall "Major" Taylor, a black superstar who rises to the pinnacle of the sport. To me Taylor was less interesting than the milieux he was apart of. The author works hard to create a narrative structure of good vs evil, with Taylor on one side and McFarland (his nemesis) and the rest of white America on the other. Although the story is ostensibly true, the author spends too much time stoking this reality for dramatic effect - choosing to make the "Race" issue crackle on every page instead of the issue of the race itself. After a couple of hundred pages Race becomes a shoe the author is beating us over the head with. Also more material should have been drawn from Taylor's autobiography in order to give a richer portrait into the mind of the man. Along this line, after the climax race, the narrative is almost dropped. A gaping hole is left about what Taylor did with the rest of his life after racing. Overall, the book's strength lies in its vivid depiction of a long-gone era. The climatic race is very cinematic and inspiring. Marshall Taylor emerges as a truly heroic athlete who rightly deserves more notoriety; this books should help remedy his place in the pantheon of sporting legends.

Great book on early cycling history

I really enjoyed this book. Major Taylor was the first black sports superstar and he became one in the 1890s. He was admired by his contemporaries like Jack Johnson (first black heavyweight boxing champ). Unlike the other reviewer who apparently just wanted to read a ride report of one of Major's come from behind victories, I liked learning about the other great cyclists of the era, as well as the trainers and promoters. I was amazed at how modern Major's training regimen was, and at how fast he could ride the bike (not far off today's records). It was also interesting to learn that cycling was perhaps the biggest sport in America for a decade, with 100,000 people seeing a race in New York, for example. Of course, he was riding at a time of unbelievable racism, a time when hundreds of African Americans were being lynched in the South. Painstakingly researched, the author was able to give the reader a glimpse of life 100+ years ago, and was even able to interview Major's daughter Sydney, who died in 2005 at the age of 101. Fantastic book of American history and early cycling lore.