A Wheel Within a Wheel / How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle

This 80-page gem summarizes the experiences of Frances Willard's cycling education. Having started at the age of 53, in a society that didn't particularly support womens' riding, Ms. Willard certainly faced some obstacles. She put her mind to it, and with the help of apparently many teachers and 15 minutes of practice daily, mastered the 'saucy steed'. However, the real value of the book lies in understanding how instrumental the bike was in history, particularly in liberating women from constrictive clothing and the constant requirement for chaperones (because on a bike, women were too fast for chaperones to keep up with). Ms. Willard's involvement in the temperance movement is also referenced in this work, an important aspect of history as well, in that it demonstrates one of the earliest womens' political movements in the US.