The World's Fastest Man

In this “sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend” ( Publishers Weekly )—the remarkable Major Taylor who became the world’s fastest bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era—“Kranish has done historians and fans a service by reminding us that such immortals as Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods all followed in Major Taylor’s wake” ( The Washington Post ). In the 1890s, the nation’s promise of equality had failed spectacularly. While slavery h