The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race

by Paul Krassner

Book Overview

The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race collects both Krassner's later stories, as well as his most famous satirical pieces from past years. Swiftian in intention and contemporary in subject matter, the book reveals Krassner to have the heart of a muckraker and the spirituality of a seeker after truth. In Krassner's world, Lyndon Johnson chuckles over the dead corpse of J.F.K., a psychiatrist hypnotically regresses a woman who shot her television set,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1888363444
• ISBN13: 9781888363449
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Name Drops Rippling in the Acid Rain Puddles

I like Krassner, I've long had an interest in the '68 riots and the Chicago 8 trial, and the bigger picture of this unique point in time, when streams of cultural changes, political chaos, and advances in street psycopharm all pooled together, each synergistically amplifying the brew. This book, with forward from Vonnegut, is billed as the collected satirical writings of Krassner. They are presented in reverse chronological order, starting with his eulogy to yippie turned yuppie Jerry Rubin. It's all very interesting bits and pieces, but it strains to rise above that level. There is no shortage of names being dropped, Patty Hearst, Phil Ochs, Timothy Leary, Norman Mailer, Terrence McKenna, Allen Ginsberg. Well, that's okay. There's a time for linearity. Then there's a time for humorous blathering; irreverent jags just on the periphery of being smart observations on the absurdity and hypocrisy of the human condition. Krassner is no Lenny Bruce, no Hunter Thompson, no Groucho Marx, and he seems to get that. But he's hung with those guys. That's cool. So he can talk about that in an interesting, disorganized way.. He's like an entertaining, old and semi-manic guy you meet at a bar or a show who goes on and on. And it's super-entertaining for awhile. Then it wears a little thin and you make some excuse to get out of there. And that's something at least. There's a scattered feel to all his essays, like listening to an audiobook on your iPod without realizing it's still set on shuffle. Speaking of which, I am sad to say I wrote a great review, a positive and informative review, of the 30 G iPod and it keeps getting rejected. They say it is too much personal information and not enough about the product. I've edited and edited, I've gotten it down to less than 100 words of personal stuff, related to the product, in a single paragraph, in the middle of close to 400 words of accurate and glowing information about the iPod. But they won't take it. I think because I go into detail about the Shiva playlist I've found myself making, the morbid exercise of picking songs to be played at a memorial service for me if I die unexpectedly. The kind of party where people are really sad, the hurt is fresh (I write "I've just been harvested and cremated. No, wait- make that plastinated. No, no- make that fossilized," it was funny). Music plays, people drink and mingle, and several people independently comment to each other that "you know, Marc would have really loved this, it's too bad he can't be here to see it." That was it, enough personal information to kill my review of the iPod. Just heartbreaking. Anyway, Krassner's a cool dude, I recommend his writings. I'd give it 3.819 stars if not constrained to integers. Worth a read, though I don't recommend sitting and reading cover to cover. A little dose here and there does the trick. Speaking of which, you've really got to love a guy with the ambition and audacity to get Groucho Marx to

Adventures in the Counter-Culture

Radical in the Sixties, radical since, radical today. Krassner is one of those rare specimens - a Sixties radical who survived with his sense of humour intact. It's easy to see why. He doesn't take himself seriously, he realises the essentially futile (but essential) nature of trying to change society, and he is instinctively anti-authority. This book consists of a collection of short stories from various points in Krassner's life - from the nineties to the fifties and all points in between. It's irreverent, sometimes infuriating (sometimes you just want him to talk straight and seperate facts from hyperbole), and thoroughly entertaining and informative. Krassner hung out with all the cool cats, and he's probably the only one still around to tell the tale. He'd be the first to accuse himself of escaping the wrath on account of his role as a CIA deep cover agent. Highly recommended for people interested in 'what happened in the Sixties', mind-expanding drugs or radical American politics.

it was the grettest one ive ever .

it was nice to read this book because it gave us every thing we needed to know in our life thats y everything was just going righ.

The Best From The Master of Satire!

Paul Krassner is a master of political and social satire and this collection showcases some of his best work. Buy it!