TY  - BOOK
AU  - Smethurst,Paul
TI  - The bicycle: towards a global history 
SN  - 9781137499493
U1  - 629.227/2 
PY  - 2015///
CY  - Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York, NY
PB  - Palgrave Macmillan
KW  - Bicycles
KW  - History
KW  - Social aspects
KW  - Cycling
KW  - Cross-cultural studies
KW  - HISTORY / General
KW  - HISTORY / World
KW  - HISTORY / Social History
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-186) and index
N2  - "The modern bicycle as we know it today was developed in England in the 1880s. A decade later, cycling was already a popular spectator sport and a recreational fashion across western society. Women's rights, class mobility and a modern spirit of individualism helped fuel this bicycle boom. In China, on the other hand, the bicycle's ubiquity reflected state-controlled social uniformity. Briefly, it became a symbol of resistance in Tiananmen Square in the 1980s, but crushed by tanks it later turned into a downward marker of class with millions scrapped. In the 21st century, the bicycle is enjoying a global resurgence. It is favoured as a sustainable form of transport, while also reinventing itself as a chic and sportive fashion object, and a generic protest vehicle.  With contradictory strands like these, the bicycle's cultural history is a rich subject for cross-cultural study. Beginning with the technical history of the bicycle's invention, and the socio-economic factors that precipitated it, the main focus of this book is the ever-changing cultural significance of the bicycle as an object, and of bicycling as a shifting, but ever popular social practice around the world.  "--
UR  - https://uowd.box.com/s/xfozezdqgwbjkhdf6losdhqdpv938rwk
ER  -