Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)

Macy, Sue. (2011). Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). Washington D.C.: National Geographic. 96 pp. ISBN 978-1-4263-0761-4 (Hard Cover); $18.95.

Impeccable research, vintage archival images, and an engaging narrative flow characterize

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Macy’s scintillating and often humorous look at how the bicycle pumps up our view of women in our society. I especially enjoy the long list of “don’ts” for women wheelers in the Omaha Daily Bee. “Don’t carry a flask,” is one of over 20 don’ts for women. Macy has a book that will serve as a model for how to use primary sources to tell your own story about history. When we consider the page layout and the quality of the paper and images, we have nonfiction at its best. Students will be interested in Annie Cohen Kopchovsky’s trip around the world, in which she not only changes out of her heavy skirts but also changes her name, which is emblematic of the gradual change in the way women view their own place in society. During her bike trip around the world, Annie becomes a celebrity, complete with sponsorship contracts. Students will also appreciate the way Macy integrates facts about women cyclists and compares them with the way in which women are viewed in society at the time. Especially interesting is the ending chapter in which Elizabeth Cady Stanton discusses the place of the bicycle in the women’s movement. Not only are people like Annie Kopchovsky Londonderry removing heavy skirts, but corsets are going away and women are no longer as dependent upon men for transportation. This is a book to make us all appreciate our bikes all the more. A timeline, resources, references for the quotes, and an index make this nonfiction book reliable and accurate, as well as entertaining. Recommended for all middle school and high school libraries.

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The author tells of how the growing popularity of the bicycle in the 1800s led to changes not only in women's clothing, but in their expectations and status.

This was the second book I read for the 2012 YALSA Best of the Best Reading Challenge. Last year our library system’s Youth Services staff had a Mock Sibert Award program and this book was one of the nominees. I never had the chance to read it at the time because there were not enough copies in

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the system for everyone. I am glad I took the time to go back and read it now. I had never really thought about how something as simple as the development of the bicycle could have a big impact on our culture. Susan B. Anthony said about bicycling that “I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” (in “Champion of Her Sex,” by Nellie Bly, New York World, Feb. 2, 1896 as quote in Wheels of Change.) Well-written and entertaining, definitely worth reading!

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Sue Macy, a graduate of Princeton University, has written several notable and award-winning books about women for young readers. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires along the Way) is a work by Sue Macy which documents the history of the bicycle and how

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this popular mode of transportation brought increasing liberty to women. Macy definitely connects the imagery of the book’s cover with the title of the work. As illustrated on the book’s cover, there is a woman, whose appearance relates to the time of the early twentieth century, riding away from a dark and cloudy scene casted in the far distance. The early twentieth century woman is blowing into some sort of horn device. Almost as if she is signaling her coming or maybe triumph over the dark distance. The pathway seemed rocky and not the ideal path for riding a bicycle. This seems to allude to the reader why there may have been a few flats on the bicycle ride to freedom.

As you read through the book, the narrative, for the most part, follows a chronological order. Macy introduces her joy of riding as a young child, and then goes into the history of the creation of the bicycle. From there, the new freedoms, liberties, and accomplishments of women are told as cycling becomes more mainstream and women become more creative and daring with this new technology. The table of contents also alludes to this structure while giving reference to special content features which Macy includes before the beginning of each chapter.

The primary content juxtaposing the evolution of the bicycle and women’s social freedoms and accomplishments do not make reading this work boring or incomprehensible. The book is manageable enough to advance ideas or hypotheses about the time period. One hypothesis that was immediately revealed to me also has implications for the content itself. A crucial question arises regarding how the content should be presented or interpreted. Is it that the invention of the bicycle became the causal mechanism which increased liberties of women, or that women took advantage of a new, popular technology as a means to reach beyond their status quo existence? For example, the account of Anne Cohen Kopchovsky can be interpreted as a women meeting the challenge of riding a bike around the world, or a woman of low economic ability using the bicycle as a means to gain notoriety and money (pg. 67-69). Each conclusion gives support to the advancement of women, but by dissimilar means. On the other hand, the targeted young audience will find that the writing style of Macy is impactful while providing for a smooth and easy read. Although the easy reading style and informative content are the strengths of the work, some format items do attract the reader more than the very small print of the text. It is my opinion that giving some format items more emphasis than the text was done deliberately.

Despite the setting and imagery of the women casted in the early twentieth century, the book has the feel and appeal of a popular magazine and it immediately would grab any reader’s attention. I don’t think such a feature takes away from the quality of the work; although, I am not quite sure if this is to make the book more visually appealing to the female gender in particular, or an audience of young readers in general. Nonetheless, the magazine-like appeal is attractive. And similar to a magazine, the text of the book seems to be secondary to the aluminous and eye catching features of the book’s photography and sidebar information. The constant use of colorful wheel patterns and color edging for black and white photos gives life, energy, and a modern appeal to all pages of the book. It is as if Sue Macy is using the bright hues and lively designs to give the book a pop culture appearance. An attempt by Macy to connect current pop culture imagery and vibe to the pop culture of the times when bicycles first became mainstreams becomes very obvious in one of her features entitled Cycling Slang (pg. 40). In this section, being young, talking cool, and “on-the-go” is reverberated throughout all eras.

As a teaching tool, this book would be great in to include in the curriculum of science and social studies content areas. The correlation between the expansion of rights/ liberties and the introduction of new technologies is becoming ever more relevant (i.e., Arab Spring and the advance of social media and technology).

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A comprehensive look at the bicycle through the ages, and how it helped (and continues to help) empower women. Full of primary documents such as photographs and advertisements, everything is pieced together to show the impact a simple two-wheeled machine has made worldwide. Even if you are not a

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bicyclist, you can appreciate this book, and if you are, you will appreciate your sport even more.

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How did the bicycle change women's history? Find out in this readable and visually striking book!

This was an interesting and compelling book. Lots of little factoids, plenty of delightful photographs of the early pioneer women of bicycling, and enough of a narrative to be engaging throughout. I want to try riding an ordinary after reading this book. But only if I can do it whilst wearing

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bloomers, of course.

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Fascinating history that links the rising popularity of bicycles with women's struggle for equality.

My VOYA ratings: 4Q, 4P

This book provides a very accessible and well laid-out look at a very specific aspect of women's history and women's rights; one that I'd never really considered before: how bikes changed daily life and social mores for women everywhere. I can see teens responding well to

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this book, especially if used for school research projects. It's easy to read, provides solid historical facts with fun and interesting photos, drawings and quotes and profiles many real women.

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3P 4Q
Fascinating examination on how the invention of the bicycle helped women gain new freedoms. Gorgeous photos and enlightening primary sources reveal just how restricted women's lives were and how the bicycle offered so many escapes. Although the subject matter is compelling, the information

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seemed rather scattered at and personal reflections were too brief. I was dying for more accounts and criticisms against ladies riding bicycles just to show the triumph of the movement and the amazing benefits it brought to many women across the world.

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A delightful and engaging look into women's early struggles for equality through the history of the bicycle and its emergence in the late 19th century. Wheels of Change captures the excitement and enthusiasm for cycling pervasive in the late 1800s while poking fun at the rigid conservatism that led

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to arguments over the appropriate weight of women's "wheeling" undergarments, among other comically true topics. The book is effective in its use of a scrapbook-like style, using images from advertisements, newspaper clippings, photographs, and notable quotes alongside historical descriptions of cycling and its influence on the changing roles of women in society.

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I'm a big fan of non-fiction as well as National Geographic (NG), so I was pretty pleased when I found this book. Published by NG, this non-fiction is about the history of the bicycle as it is about the women’s suffrage movement.There are a lot of really neat historic images and photos that add

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to the written content and display the different types of bikes and women's clothing as both changed over time.

Given history, I really shouldn't be surprised that women and children were not allow to ride bikes. It wasn't mere a matter of women's layers and layers of restrictive clothing either, for there was once a "side saddle" bike that had both the pedals on one side so women could maintain a modest position. Yikes.

It was interesting to learn how the introduction and adoption of bicycles really played a role in changing women's fashion - resulting in "turkish trousers" and later actual pants for women, not to mention the way that bikes gave women a level of freedom and independence they didn't before have. The health benefits of riding bikes, or regular exercise, along with a great deal of determination and fight on women't part, changed a lot of things for women and the ideas about the roles they were to play in society.

I think teens who like non-fiction and like to look back into history and see how things used to be may enjoy this book.

about the

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Bicycle history and first-wave feminism are deftly woven into a five-chapter narrative tracing the impact of the "silent steed" on 19th-century America. The historical tour begins in the 1870s, when Albert Pope imported the bicycle industry from England, and then navigates the social commentary of

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the 1890s concerning women on bicycles. Next the book delves into the significant fashion changes wrought by this new form of transportation and the daring exploits of the first female competitive cyclists. The concluding chapter situates the bicycle amid the broad social change at the turn of the century. Stops along the way feature women inventors, activists, and athletes, and also highlight the role of bicycles in the pop culture of the era. Fascinating archival images illustrate the text at every turn, and the author carefully attributes each quote and picture in captions and appendices. The intriguing focus of this history may provide a strong draw, but it is the rich detail that will ultimately captivate readers and inspire further exploration in a number of directions.

My VOYA ratings: 4Q ("Better than most, marred by occasional lapses") and 4P ("Broad general or genre YA appeal").

I love the way this book got me excited about history from so many different angles: bicycle design, transportation infrastructure, fashion, women's suffrage, poster art, and biographies galore! It also inspired me to look at the present world with renewed curiosity and enthusiasm. I can't wait to introduce it to many potential readers.

The only disappointing aspect is its somewhat restrictive design. The scrapbook layout works hard to cram as much content as possible into a slim volume of 100 pages and average height, with the result that many background images are compromised. I wish the publisher had let the format expand in height or girth and allowed the rich detail room to breathe.

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Great book for anyone and everyone-as a gender studies major, I adored it! Well written, great format, fascinating facts and stories.

What a fun book! This book really understands the power of visual learning and uses images in a fun, creative, and non-distracting way. There is so much information jam packed into under 100 pages of text and even though the book is written to inform reader about the history of bicycles from the

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perspective of women, it’s more of a narrative than dry list of names, dates, and places. Not only can readers learn a lot about the evolution of the bicycle as a machine and as a factor in urbanization, but they can also uncover the beginnings of feminism from a completely new perspective. SO GOOD!

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Wheels of Change is a very clear, well-illustrated, and visually attractive book about the invention and rise in popularity of the bicycle in the United States at the end of the 19th century. The book focuses on how the bicycle impacted the lives of women during this time period. The illustrations

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add greatly to this book and break up the reading pace, although I sometimes found the language a bit simplistic. The book also bills itself as being a more general history, although the time period is limited to about 1880-1900. Granted, this is the period of time during which the bicycle became quite prominent in American life, but I thought this narrow time period deserved more discussion and justification by the author, so this book earned a 4Q. As for popularity, I think it could appeal to reluctant readers or to young women interested in the history of feminism - and bicycling! - in the United States. However, I am not sure readers would necessarily find this book on their own, so I rated it a 3P, as I believe it could appeal with a well-done booktalk.

Personally, as a young woman who enjoys riding bicycles, I found this book piqued my interest and informed me of a hidden history about the relationship between young women, liberation, and their bicycles, that I did not previously know existed. I loved the illustrations and visual layout of each page. Again, I would have appreciated a more thorough history and less simplistic language, but those are my personal preferences as a reader. I can certainly see this as a fantastic educational tool or as a good recommendation for a nonfiction book for a school assignment.

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This book gives a lot of new and interesting information that I had never even heard of. It links the beginning of women's rights to the freedom the bicycle gave her, along with much more history that children would probably find exciting.
Students could create venn diagrams comparing the past and

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present, use science to describe why the first bicycles did not work as well as today, and involve history in studying the many different ways bicycles fit into the subject.

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This book would be good to use when talking about women's rights. I think students will like it because of how the bicycle is an unsuspecting component to women's rights.

Do you remember the freedom you felt once you were old enough to get a two-wheeled bike and allowed to zoom around your neighborhood? Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy recalls when women first got their own set of wheels and

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set off unescorted into the world.

And that whole unescorted thing really ticked off conservatives at the time. As Macy notes in chapter 2, The Devil's Advance Agent, in the late 1800s women and men dated while being chaperoned by adults, usually in the home of the young woman. With the advent of the bicycle and society's approval for women to jump on board with this new fad, the reach of chaperones was cut. Thus begins the spiral to fogged up car windows on a Friday night. One has to remember that this was at the same time most physical activity, especially sporting activities, was seen as bad for women's bodies and especially their reproductive systems.

One also must remember that in the late 1800s women were wearing HUGE dresses. How is a lady supposed to ride a bicycle? Macy shows photos of bicycles that were designed for side-saddle as well as with contraptions so that dresses wouldn't get caught in the wheels or gears. Then the young women of the late 1800s rediscovered Amelia Bloomers invention - Lady Pants! - or bloomers.

This is a fun trip through the joint history of the bicycle and women's rights. From wheels to bloomers to votes for women, it's all interconnected. You'll be amazed at how similar the conversations we are having today about women's rights sound a lot like the ones in the late 1800s about women riding bicycles.

This a National Geographic book for kids. But don't let that stop those without kids from not buying this book.

Disclaimers: A publicist offered me a copy for review for women's history month. Obviously, I'm late writing this baby up.

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This weekend I had the pleasure of reading a book about women and cycling called Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy. It’s a wonderful book. It’s a fast read, at only 96 pages with lots of pictures and not a lot of text;

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it’s aimed at a young adult market, but great for anybody interested in the subject.

The pictures themselves were wonderful: pictures of cool old bicycles, of old advertisements for bikes and cycling ...moreThis weekend I had the pleasure of reading a book about women and cycling called Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy. It’s a wonderful book. It’s a fast read, at only 96 pages with lots of pictures and not a lot of text; it’s aimed at a young adult market, but great for anybody interested in the subject.

The pictures themselves were wonderful: pictures of cool old bicycles, of old advertisements for bikes and cycling gear, of women on their bikes, of the clothes women wore while riding. I’ve always wanted posters of women cyclists from back in the early days of cycling, although I haven’t yet collected any, and I saw tons of images in this book that would be perfect for the purpose.

The text, although short, is fascinating. It focuses on the last couple decades of the nineteenth century when the bicycle first became popular and when women began riding, often as a way to find more freedom and independence. Macy first discusses the invention of the bicycle, and then moves on to debates over the safety, propriety, and morality of women riding. Some writers applauded the new opportunities for exercise and freedom the bicycle offered women, while others worried about what women might get up to with that new freedom or whether they would bother to attend church anymore if they could be out cycling instead. Some tried to regulate and monitor women’s behavior on the bicycle, as did, for example, an article from the Omaha Daily Bee from 1895 with a list of “Don’ts for Women Wheelers.” Some “don’ts” from this list include:

* Don’t be a fright.
* Don’t carry a flask.
* Don’t attempt a “century.”
* Don’t say, “Feel my muscle.”
* Don’t criticize people’s “legs.”
* Don’t boast of your long rides.
* Don’t go to church in your bicycle costume.
* Don’t imagine everybody is looking at you.
* Don’t ask, “What do you think of my bloomers?”
* Don’t try to ride in your brother’s clothes “to see how it feels.”

Read the rest of the review at Of Books and Bicycles

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