Road Pirates (Signed First Edition)

Fine photos and fascinating interviews with these cultish outsiders. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

This curious volume chronicles America's motorcycle subculture by combining lackluster pseudo-Avedon portraits by Hauser ( Halloween in Bucktown ) with outrageous statements by the bikers themselves on the virtues of a "Harley" way of life. Subjects include the exhilaration provided by the freedom of the road, the empowerment garnered by traveling in groups and the ego sustenance supplied by biker women, or "bitches" as they are affectionately known. After we are told by Robb that "When you're a biker you're a member of a large family," we learn numerous details about the lives of various bikers. Most provocatively, there are tips for biker women under the heading, "On Being a Good Bitch." The bikers also state that they reject the negative labels--like "trash" and "tramp"--that have been thrown at them since the sixties. One biker has this to say: ital in text/pk "You don't have to be black to be a nigger . . . . People see the black leather and T-shirt and they hassle me. They don't even know what I do or what I have." Overall, the book's narrow presentation fails to shed any new light on this very distinctive social group. Robb is a freelance writer and photographer.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Americans are often fascinated and awed by the outlaw image, and none typifies that image better than a long-haired, bearded, tattooed, black-garbed biker riding a loud Harley. Some bikers cultivate and deserve the outlaw image, but most are simply labeled by it. This photo essay does not attempt to dispel the stereotype, but tempers it with images of brotherhood, bonding, and family. The essence of this book is its duotone portrait photographs that are character studies of those who have chosen the biker life. These are supported by an assemblage of quotes and vignettes that offer brief insights into the biker life and culture, but which are not substantive enough to make this a work of social history. For large public and academic photography collections.
- David Van de Streek, Pennsylvania State Univ. Libs., York
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.