Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride

AROUND THE WORLD ON TWO WHEELS: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride: Peter Zheutlin: Tantor Media:2007: Biography.

Annie Kopchovsky was an immigrant with three children barely managing to make a living in Boston in the 1890’s. Over a period of a few months in 1894 she transformed herself into Annie Londonderry and purportedly entered into a wager to be the first woman to ride around the world on a bike. She had never ridden a bike when she reinvented herself, shattering Victorian stereotypes. Was she pressured by finances, inspired by ideas about womens’ rights, an iconoclast with a flare for drama? Or was she an immensely resourceful and clever charlatan who took advantage of others to create for herself an opportunity for fame and fortune? In June, 1894 she left her husband and children and began her bike ride, earning money for her trip by wearing advertisements, giving bike demonstrations, and lecturing about her adventures. Make no mistake, what she did was very difficult, even though she probably only managed to bike about one quarter of the miles around the globe. En route she shocked communities with her modern biking costume and her independent ways.

The author is a descendant of Annie and has researched the times in order to tell her story. He has done a good job of portraying what life was like for a woman of that time as well. I thought the reader was a little dry when often the story seemed to demand wry! But I enjoyed this audio book in spite of the reader’s lack of a sense of humor.

SH