Hear Me Roar: Women,Motorcycles and the Rapture of the Road,New Ed. by Ann Ferrar

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Synopsis

This book chronicles the bold history of women in motorcycling--the independence, the myths, the history, the subcultures. It captures the wind-in-the-face freedom of motorcycling women--a breed of gutsy, diverse trailblazers who flaunt convention every time they start their engines. The author rode 30,000 miles solo to interview hundreds of women--from athletes and blue-collar workers to celebrities and entrepreneurs. Her book is full of stories and photographs of women and their freedom machines--from the first grand-dames of motorcycling at the turn of the century, to the drag racers, endurance riders, stuntwomen, motocrossers, adventurers, and world explorers of today. Hear Me Roar also looks at the rise of women in motorcycle sports, the fastest woman on a Harley nitro bike, and the sweat and toil of a female team in a superbike relay race. Written by a woman from the saddle of a motorcycle, Hear Me Roar presents a unique perspective on a growing facet of women's independence. Their story is here in fascinating detail, along with practical information--about safety, how to choose a bike and leather gear--plus a resource directory with 450 listings for women's clubs, coed clubs, rallies, manufacturers, periodicals, where to find specialty parts to lower a bike, and much more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ann Ferrar is an award-winning journalist whose career has spanned more than two decades. She has written creative non-fiction in multiple media, on subjects ranging from health and women's issues, to music and motorcycling. In 1992, she was recognized with three awards for her writing of public health education materials for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. In 1997, she received the American Motorcyclist Association Hazel Kolb Brighter Image Award, for Hear Me Roar's positive impact on the motorcycling community and on the public.

Ferrar has lectured at universities and libraries for Women's History Month, and has served as an advisor to museum curators and filmmakers on women's motorcycling history. She has appeared in the international television documentary The Secret History of Bikers and in CNN's All About Women. Photographs from Ferrar's Hear Me Roar collection have appeared in the Field Museum of Chicago's exhibit of The Art of the Motorcycle, and her ideas have helped to enhance the AMA's expanded Women & Motorcycling exhibit.

To research, write and photograph Hear Me Roar, Ferrar rode 30,000 miles solo to interview hundreds of women bikers, explore historical archives, and attend motorcycle events. To date, Hear Me Roar is the first and only book of its kind in the Library of Congress. Ferrar's efforts were richly rewarded by universal critical acclaim for the book. Hear Me Roar was hailed by the New York Times as "a woman's symphony on the road," by Thunder Press and Woman Rider as "the bible of women's motorcycling," by dozens of other publications worldwide, and by riders and industry leaders of both genders.

Ferrar has been involved in motorcycling for more than 20 years and began riding her own bike in 1990. Since then, she has owned six motorcycles. She pursues her career as a non-fiction writer specializing in consumer health, patient education and women's issues, writing for the Internet, video, and print media. A native of New York City, Ferrar lives on Long Island with her husband, Frank Dusek, who is also a biker and book-lover.

Margot Mifflin

Hear Me Roar paints an exuberant picture of women who thrill to the sound of heavy-metal thunder.—Entertainment Weekly

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