Wheels of Change

"Wheels of Change" tells the story of the impact of the bicycle on women's lives from 1870s to the early years of the 20th century. It tells the stories of women who rode bicycles for fun, for profit, and to make a statement about women's rights or women's roles in the world. Illustrated liberally with photographs, maps, advertisements, and cartoons, as well as contemporary songs, poems, and newspaper clippings, the book helps readers travel to a time gone by to see firsthand how women used the bicycle as a vehicle to improve their lives. Witty in tone and scrapbooky in presentation with multiple sidebar features, Macy deftly covers the following subjects: Inventing the Bicycle - an amusing look at how women first took to the 'wheel'; 'The Devil's Advance Agent' - how early objections to women's cycling on health and moral grounds gave way to an appreciation of the health benefits of cycling; and, rational Dress - how the bicycle freed women from whalebone corsets and led to permanent changes in women's dress and style (Plus the abomination of bloomers). It also includes subjects such as: Fast and Fearless - women and the thrilling, but sometimes shady, early world of bicycle racing, with profiles of female racers and accounts of races, including one in Nassau County, New York, that was stopped after the district attorney decided it was improper, immoral and illegal to make such an exhibition on the public highway; and, New Freedoms - the bicycle as a means for social change, its part in the women's suffrage movement, and why Susan B. Anthony declared that it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It comes with additional testimonies from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, France Willard, and other leaders of the early women's movement. Full-spread features range from Celebrity Cyclists to Cycling Songs. A timeline of cycling runs parallel to a timeline of women's history. Profiles of famous women cyclists, including Amelia Bloomer, are included, as are primary source excerpts from newspapers and novels of the day.