A mix of photos, paintings, reminiscences, movie posters celebrating the hog. The cultists and auto history buffs will want This Old Harley . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Go on a 60-year ride with Harley-Davidson's Sportster

Things got a little weird in the American motorcycle industry after World War II. People hungered for new motorcycles, buying just about everything manufacturers could build. But on rare occasions a manufacturer produced a machine that nobody wanted. Such was the case with the Harley-Davidson Model K. The Model K had most of the features buyers wanted in a modern machine, like hand-operated clutches, foot-operated shifters, and cool-running aluminum heads, but it lacked perhaps the most important technological upgrade: a modern overhead-valve valve-train design.

The Model K retained the antiquated side-valve design because of arcane AMA racing rules written when Harley-Davidson and Indian competed head-to-head on American racetracks, but by 1952 Indian was on its last legs. This should have made the Model K a massive sales success. What nobody counted on was the British bike invasion. Thanks to their modern overhead-valve engines, the lightweight British bikes humiliated the side-valve Harleys on the track and on the street. Upgrades to the Model K didn't help; Harley finally relented and introduced a new overhead-valve middleweight for the 1957 model year. Dubbed the Sportster, it was everything the Model K was not. More importantly, it was faster than the British competition. Thus began the Sportster's sixty-year reign.

Harley-Davidson Sportster: Sixty Years tells the complete Sportster story. Noted Sportster expert Allen Girdler covers all the bikes--the XLCH, Caf Racer, XR1000, XLX, 883, Iron, Forty-Eight, Seventy-Two, and Nightster--that have made the Sportster one of the most iconic motorcycles on earth.

Sensational color shots of the finest Harleys around Panheads, Shovelheads, Knuckleheads, and more 1903-1991. All are featured in superb color photography capturing all the details of the most interesting Harleys from every decade. Girdler's colorful text tells the history of Harley's company and racing bikes in a style that's pure pleasure to read.

What is it about bikes that leaves so many of us powerless to resist?

This entertaining guide charts the history of the bike from its origin as a cheap means of transport to its modern incarnations: a symbol of rebellion, a high-tech racing machine and the rich kid's plaything. Richard Hammond, passionate biker and collector of bikes, looks at the machines that have propelled people across the world to work, to school - and occasionally to their doom.

With his trademark expertise and wit, Hammond examines bikers of every type, from the happy farmer trundling through fields on his Honda Cub to the Hells Angel terrorising towns on their hog.

One part Plato, one part Aristophanes, two parts Easy Rider, Organ Grinder is a cocktail of lewd wisdom gathered equally from the poetry of antiquity and from near-death experiences on the open road. In a series of short works inspired by Horatian satire, Alan Fishbone bounces from gonzo fever-dream to philosophical treatise, investigating the conflicts between idealism and cynicism, love and sex, body and soul. Here's a taste:

Recognized the world over as an icon of the American lifestyle and the American Dream, Harley-Davidson's 100th anniversary is celebrated in this over-sized volume. Written by the grandson of the company's founder, the book contains the family business's inside story, along with rare photographs.