The World's Fastest Man

March 11, 2019
Political reporter Kranish (Trump Revealed) narrates the life of Marshall “Major” Taylor, an African-American man who became the world’s greatest cyclist in what was one of the nation’s most popular sports at the turn of the 20th century. Taylor (1878–1932) was raised in Indianapolis and hoped to become the greatest cyclist in America; he fought against racism from the start of his career as a teenager, writing letters to the League of American Wheelsmen after the organization proposed a ban on blacks from racing, and to the cyclist magazine Bearings (“I am a cyclist; further, I am a negro... I think it’s high time for someone of my color to say a few words”). Kranish drew from past interviews with Taylor’s friends and family members—as well as his 90-year-old daughter—who shared stories of life in Jim Crow America as well as recollections of Taylor’s races (Taylor also meticulously kept clippings of every news item in which he was mentioned). Taylor competed throughout the world and, at the 1899 ICA Track Cycling Championship in Montreal, became the first African-American world champion of a sport—a decade before boxer Jack Johnson became a heavyweight boxing champion. Toward the end of his career, Taylor refused to enter competitions in a segregated U.S., turning his attention instead to Europe. Kranish provides a sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency.

April 15, 2019
A vigorous biography of an African-American pioneer of professional cycling--a man all but forgotten today. Washington Post investigative political reporter Kranish (Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War, 2010, etc.) switches gears here to go into the realm of sports history, albeit a history that is laden with political and racial burdens. His story centers on young racer Marshall "Major" Taylor (1878-1932), whose father had served in the Union Army during the Civil War but whose bicycle-racing debut, at Madison Square Garden, was marked by the house band scrambling to find the sheet music for "Dixie," "known as the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy." The "black meteor," as one paper called Taylor, earned every one of his medals and prizes through the ordinary hard work of athletics coupled with the racism of late-19th-century America, a time when Plessy v. Ferguson was reinforcing separation, "all but normalizing racism and undoing much of what had been achieved since slavery ended with the Civil War." Particularly intriguing in the narrative is not just Taylor, but also an entrepreneur and fellow racer who took him under his wing, a pioneer named Louis de Franklin Munger, who built and raced high-wheel bicycles, moved on to "safety bicycles" with equally sized wheels, and ended up building cars in New York City, selling to the likes of John Jacob Astor. Also of interest is the datum that Taylor predated the boxer Jack Johnson by a dozen years--and that Johnson himself, inspired by Taylor, "dreamed of being a bicycling world champion" until an accident put him in the hospital and, as he put it, made him decide to "look for a less dangerous profession." The dangers would mount for Taylor in the age of Jim Crow, and his misfortunes in later life make for sobering reading. A welcome contribution to sports history, drawing attention to two extraordinary athletes for whom recognition is long overdue.

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May 1, 2019

Journalist Kranish (The World's Fastest Man) weaves the fascinating and interconnected history of the rise and demise of professional cycling with the life story of African American cycling hero Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (1878-1932), who acquired his nickname "Major" by performing stunt tricks on his bike while in military uniform. Taylor began his racing career in Indianapolis and endured racism in the forms of verbal and physical assaults along with being barred from races. Despite these barriers, Taylor, still managed to amass seven world records by age 26. However, Kranish maintains, the rise of the automobile contributed to Taylor's retirement and the rapid decline of cycling's popularity. Ultimately, a series of poor financial investments left Taylor penniless at the time of his death. Kranish's work complements Taylor's own autobiography, along with Andrew Ritchie's Major Taylor, Todd Balf's Major, and Conrad Kerber and Terry Kerber's Major Taylor. VERDICT Kranish mixes sports and history, along with the realities of racism, in a valuable addition for all libraries with collections touching on those areas.--John N. Jax, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., La Crosse

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2019
Years before Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Jessie Owens were household names, there was an Indiana-born Black athlete known throughout the world for his talent and speed as a professional bicycle racer: Marshall Major Taylor. The bicycle boom was ushered in during the Gilded Age, a period before cars when there were millions of bicycles in the U.S. and two-wheeled races (sprint and long-distance) captivated the nation. Taylor got his first bike at age 12 and went on to become a national and international champion near the end of the twentieth century, only to die penniless in Chicago at the age of 53. Washington Post reporter Kranish chronicles Taylor's astonishing life in this thoroughly researched biography, which is particularly strong in setting the story in its historical context, as the U.S. transitioned from the Reconstruction era to the rigid segregation of Jim Crow. Yes, Taylor became the world's fastest cyclist, but he did so while navigating relentless racism, choosing to use it as motivation to work hard, lead a moral life, and follow a disciplined training regimen. Both inspiring and heartbreaking, this is an essential contribution to sports history and an excellent companion to Todd Balf's equally strong Major (2008).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)