The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power

by Travis Hugh Culley

Book Overview

Travis Hugh Culley came to Chicago to work and live as an artist. He knew he'd have to struggle, but he found that his struggle meant more than hard work and a taste for poverty. In becoming a bike... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375760245
• ISBN13: 9780375760242
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A fabulous glimpse into an alternative lifestyle

I am an avid biker--yes, I do commute by bike but not every day--and I loved the book, although I found it occasionally a bit high on the melodrama and the flowery asides. That is the only reason I would not give it five stars; the circuitous narrative makes it a bit less gripping, but I found that it is also an advantage because either the story or the philosophy by themselves would be thin. The Imortal Class offers a close look into an alternative lifestyle. I do straddle the corporate world, and this look at the other side was a great escape--I actually wish there were more details of "life on the other side" of the economic machine. Despite the frequent flowery detours, I found the book offers a lot of food for thought on the schizophrenic structure of our suburban life and hurried work, along with the architectural and legal choices that they imply. The thoughtfullness of the book gives it a beatnick tinge along the lines of "The Zen of Motorcycle Maintainace." It is a "zen" sort of book in my mind. That having been said, the Immortal Class is not a complete or coherent philosophy of life, nor does it aspire to be. It serves its role as food for thought, though, very well.

A Speedy Career, An Urge To Improve Society

The tyranny of automobiles over our cities didn't have to be inevitable, and Travis Hugh Culley is out to make his city safe for bicycles. His lively book, _The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power_ is a combination memoir of his days as a bike messenger and a polemic against the tyranny of the automobile. Culley has an original voice, a poetic way of telling about his road adventures and the other bicyclists he encounters. He has more than his share of guts, and his book is a convincing examination of how to look at a problem from a different view, and how to make a difference.A thwarted theater producer, he signed on to be a bike messenger in Chicago, a city he obviously loves and wants to care for. The descriptions of the career of bike messenger are the most vivid and enjoyable parts of the book. It is peppered throughout with radio jargon: "10-4, boss. I'm going to drop the bucket of Bucklin, grab a bouquet of Rosies, roll off the Fairbanks, and hit you on the outside of the Dentist." (Only some of the talk is translated; "the Dentist" is, for instance, the headquarters of the American Dental Association.) It is full of collisions which are rather beautifully and balletically described: "When my front wheel slipped out from beneath me, I fell forward, smacked the asphalt with my back, and began sliding in a straight line between the two cars. I could feel the white lines in the road skipping beneath my messenger bag, _thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump_..." After an accident, "Messengering bloody was kind of cool. Secretaries would offer me napkins and things to tell me that I needed to freshen the bandages... At first I couldn't distinguish sweat from blood, so I kept wiping everything with a blood-drenched hanky." Afterward he gets stitches at home from a medical resident, his girlfriend. Eating and drinking are altered for the messenger's exhausting routine; Howard Johnson's eggs, pancakes, and grits for breakfast, with snacks through the day of granola mixed with M & M's and dried fruit. "If I didn't eat at least three ounces by noon, I would be brain-dead by 1:30, slurring my words and overshooting my streets, stoned from depletion." I don't want to live this life, but it is a thrill to read about it.Culley saves his harshest words for city and state governments that refuse to recognize bicyclists as road-users with road-privileges, for the police who break up his demonstrations, and for those of us who simply accept the automobile as the way it has to be. He is no longer a messenger; his injured knee eventually gave out, and he now commutes to his gallery job, by bicycle, to be sure. He is still active in advocacy for his dream transportation, and while his visions of a Chicago "covered with bike-only streets, quiet trains, and a patient, car-free delivery-based roadway" are overoptimistic, his idealism in placing bike messengers in the center of such a Chicago and thereby improving the stree

Excellant, Quircky, but Excellant

"The Immortal Class" is obviously a first book by an obviously gifted writer. To any boomer, even a cycling boomer, who lives in the 'burbs, Mr. Culley's book represents, in one volume, a double eye-opener to both the life of a bike courier and the importance of thoughtful city planning. As such, this book is actually two books artfully interweaved into one. The reader is both fascinated by the details and challanges of the world in which the urban bike messenger functions, as well as educated by Mr. Culley's interspersed treatise on urban planning as it relates to eco-friendly transportation. What is so significant about this book is that it moves suburban, automobile-dependant (and even Republican) individuals, such as myself, to rethink the applicability of human powered transportation as a viable alternative. I originally purchased this book because I have always been an avid (and sometimes competitive) cyclist. I finished this book re-evaluating my view of transportation. Even though the subject matter jumps around a bit, it is both an entertaining and thought provoking read. I highly recommend it! On Monday, I'll be riding my bike to work.

A phenomenal exploration of culture -- hidden and open

Culley's book is a tour de force -- a dazzling, spirited take on the hidden culture of urban bicycle messengers as well as a thoughtful and incisive critique of the broader American reliance on automobiles. He's a writer with both power and scope, able to describe being "doored" by a brutally selfish woman in a taxicab with an immediacy that will make you catch your breath ("Can I go now?" the woman keeps asking the cop, while Culley lies bleeding in the street) and yet he can also explain how our culture and urban architecture almost demand that these kinds of events continue. As a practicing lawyer for several years, I frequently relied on bicycle messengers; yet I never understood what they risked and endured until I read Culley's book. I'm miserably ashamed of that ignorance right now. This book is a keeper, a blow-the-doors-out achievement that should be required reading for every commuter, urban professional, and adrenaline junkie on the planet. Buy it.

Beauty Found in the Gritty City

Travis H. Culley writes a stirring love letter to both the city of Chicago and the profession/culture of bike messengers. It is such a rare accomplishment to conjure the unexpected romance and beauty of these two unique worlds. Culley situates his colorful and real characters, (fast, philosophical bike messengers), in a Chicago that seems to be of their own design. The Amoco building becomes the "Oil Can," and the NBC Tower becomes the "Peacock." Messengers become one with their cities and construct their own language and geography to navigate through them. Culley's descriptions convey not only a knowledge of the culture of Chicago messengers but a deserved respect that they have never been afforded before. Culley authorizes messengers to own the city, as they should, because it is they who truly know and feel its rhythm and texture. This book is fun to read because of its passionate representation of one of the wildest, most invigorating and most misunderstood professions. Regardless of your background (young or old, 'knowing urban' or sheltered, rich or poor), if you are not fortunate enough to know a real Chicago bike messenger, you must buy Culley's book and be initiated into the most textured, fun, and fast paced culture around. Culley has the rare talent of being able to place his readers right into the action. Readers interact immediately with Bobcat, Pork Chop, Bones, and Superdave in this whirlwind virtual tour. Culley's book inspires, as it debunks myths and stereotypes about messengers and evokes the beauty of their unexpected reality. They are athletes, they are philosophers, they are the most loyal of friends to one another, and the freedom they enjoy daily will inspire you to quit your day job and join the immortal class.