Kicks: the great American story of sneakers

Description

"When the athletic shoe graduated from the beaches and croquet courts of the wealthy elite to streetwear ubiquity, its journey through the heart of American life was just getting started. In this rollicking narrative, Nicholas K. Smith carries us through the long twentieth century as sneakers became the totem of subcultures from California skateboarders to New York rappers, the cause of gang violence and riots, the heart of a global economic controversy, the lynchpin in a quest to turn big sports into big business, and the muse of high fashion. Studded with larger-than-life mavericks and unexpected visionaries--from genius rubber inventor, Charles Goodyear, to road-warrior huckster Chuck Taylor, to the feuding brothers who founded Adidas and Puma, to the track coach who changed the sport by pouring rubber in his wife's waffle iron--Kicks introduces us to the sneaker's surprisingly influential, enduring, and evolving legacy."--Amazon.com.;"'It's gotta be the shoes.' When Spike Lee said it to Michael Jordan in a 1989 commercial, it was with a wink and a nod--what makes MJ so good? His Nike Air Jordan IIIs, of course. But as Nicholas Smith reveals in this captivating history, Lee's conclusion also speaks to the sneaker's surprising journey into the heart of American life. In Kicks, we follow the humble athletic shoe from the croquet courts of the elite to fields, parks, and streets everywhere, and we watch as sneakers become the calling card of California skaters and New York MCs, the spark of riots and gang violence, the heart of a global economic controversy, the muse of haute couture, and a lynchpin in the transformation of big sports into big business. Along the way, we meet the visionaries of sneaker history: genius rubber inventor Charles Goodyear, risking everything--again and again--to get his formula right; the warring brothers who started dueling global shoe empires; road-warrior Chuck Taylor, hawking shoes out of his trunk; the hard-charging, Shakespeare-quoting track coach who changed his sport by pouring rubber into his waffle iron; and many more mavericks, hustlers, and dreamers. With a footprint as broad as its subject, Kicks introduces us to the sneaker's unexpectedly influential, enduring, and evolving legacy."--Dust jacket.;Prologue -- The father of invention -- Peach baskets and tennis sets -- Johnny Basketballseed -- War and brothers -- Builderman -- Swoosh -- Courting style -- Everyone is doing it -- Meanwhile, on the West Coast -- Let's get physical -- Style and flow -- His Airness -- Mars and Mike -- Battle of the brands -- Sneaker crime and punishment -- I, Sneakerhead -- Back at it again -- Epilogue.