Avid cyclist Hannah Ross delves into the history of cycling and feminism in her first book, Revolutions. Cycling for competition or leisure has long been a male-dominated sphere: the vast majority of riders (at least visible ones) and celebrated cycling pros are men. But women have been riding--quite capably--in huge numbers for decades, and their love for the bicycle has become intertwined with other social transformations.
Ross begins with a scene from Cambridge University in 1897: a group of male students protesting a resolution to grant women students degrees (which failed), then tearing an effigy of a female cyclist to pieces. During that era and ever since, women on bicycles have been seen as "liberated," forward-thinking and sometimes dangerous. At the very least, they've shown their unwillingness to stay where they are and do what they're told, which has unnerved the men in charge of business, politics and other areas of society.
Revolutions is part cycling history, part feminist rallying cry. Ross has done her research, and her narrative brims with information about specific types of bicycles and the groups of women who used them. Suffragettes, especially in England and the U.S., were known for their championing of "rational dress" (i.e., sensible clothing that did not restrict movement), which dovetailed nicely with their desire to hop on a bike.
Cycling, Ross says, should be for everyone. Revolutions is an informative, entertaining and inspiring look at what it means to be a woman on a bike. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams