Table of Contents
Authors Note ix
1 Even a Man from America Can See a Few Things: The Arrival 1
2 Lucky Few: The 1890s 17
3 Piggy Hunters: The Bike Thievery 35
4 King of the Street: The 1920s 53
5 It Made My Head Swim: The Elephants, Centaurs, Punks and Nuns 71
6 A Matter of Individual Expression: The Land of the Automobile vs. the Land of the Bicycle 95
7 Problem Children: The 1930s 115
8 Which One's the Wrench?: The Settling Down 145
9 We Were True Libertines: The First Two Years of the Occupation 157
10 Smash Your Bikes to Bits, Slice Your Tires to Pieces: The Mass Bike Confiscation 189
11 You No Longer Think, You Just Pedal: The Final Years of the Occupation 209
12 Give My Father's Bike Back: The Occupation's Legacy 235
13 After You Passed: The Mystery Rider 251
14 It's Chaos with the Bicycles: The 1950s 265
15 A Bike Is Coming: The New Additions 287
16 A Bike Is Something, Yet Almost Nothing! The 1960s 293
17 A Big Success: The Urban Myths of the White Bicycles 315
18 A Typical Amsterdam Characteristic: The Bike Fishermen 327
19 Death to the Car!: The 1970s 343
20 It's a Joy to Be on a Bike Again!: The 1980s Onward 365
21 Let's Ride: Looking Back and Looking Forward 385
Acknowledgments 395
Notes 397