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Around the World on a Motorcycle: 1928 to 1936
The year was 1928 when two young Hungarians decided to travel around the world on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with sidecar. Like Robert Fulton, whose circumnavigation of the globe is chronicled in his popular 1937 book, One Man Caravan, Sulkowsky thought his was the first around-the-world journey on a motorcycle. This account of his trip with friend Gyula Bartha gives a very clear-eyed view of the world in the 1930s -- a world where the colonizing influence of Europe had affected much of Africa and Asia but not all. The two experienced the riches of sultans, witnessed remote cultures and extreme poverty in far-flung villages, travelled through wilderness with the ever-present danger of wild animals, and traversed roads of all descriptions. They dealt with mud, sand, extreme heat and cold, and rivers where the motorcycle had to be taken apart to cross in a small boat. This intelligent and engaging book, now in a paperback edition, offers a unique world view between the World Wars, flavored by the great diversity of cultures and the wide variety of human life that exists on the planet.
416 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 10, 2024
These Hungarian sportsmen (madmen, misfits, absolute legends) are equal parts reckless and resourceful. They’re brilliant idiots who decide to do something most people wouldn’t dare and then proceed to adventure in said manner for 8 years.
This book is a Time Machine into 1930s Peru, a guidebook to navigating remote border control situations, and a beautiful ray of inspiration for us lunatics who remain committed to the pursuit of a meaningful, chaotic, and memorable life!
This book is a Time Machine into 1930s Peru, a guidebook to navigating remote border control situations, and a beautiful ray of inspiration for us lunatics who remain committed to the pursuit of a meaningful, chaotic, and memorable life!
Currently reading
August 17, 2011Terrifying descriptions of getting a bike (with a sidecar) through endless dunes, Egkyptian sandstorms, Amazonian rivers, etc. So far, so good!
June 18, 2020
So these guys predict the Vietnam war, Communist overthrow of China and other parts of the world, the Muslim uprisings in the South Pacific, Hindi/Muslim conflicts in India, the end of the British colonial state in Iraq and elsewhere, the growth of Brazil as a world economic power... the list goes on. And none of it was "on purpose," just two people making very good observations, coming from a country (Hungary) that provided what appears to be a fantastic global education to its people in the 1920s.
The author also makes observations of people that, a hundred years on, still largely hold true, showing how slow culture is to change, and how ingrained culture can be, even with a "Cultural Revolution" such as that in China.
A final note, there was the usual-for-the-time discussion that "no man had set foot" when they really meant "no white guys," but the book is unbelievably "liberal" in its statements on people from India to what would become Vietnam, to North Africa. There is indeed some European Exceptionalism going on, but overall these guys seem to come away truly enlightened, wishing without paternalistic tendencies to join several of the cultures they visit and learn from. There are plenty of uses of the word "coolie" to describe day laborers, but all of the other racial epithets are missing - something pretty amazing for non-Anthropologist research done in the 1920s and 30s.
The most interesting part remains the observations of early 20th Century Earth, though, and how even in the 20s, we saw what would become conflict and change as late as the 80s.
Took a long time to read, as it was VERY dense. This is not a book about motorcycling, as I had originally hoped, but instead is a travelogue from two young, forward-thinking guys, following the secular humanist traditions of Austro-Hungary and Germany that started in the 1800s (the Germans were the "ultra liberals" in 19th Century America).
The author also makes observations of people that, a hundred years on, still largely hold true, showing how slow culture is to change, and how ingrained culture can be, even with a "Cultural Revolution" such as that in China.
A final note, there was the usual-for-the-time discussion that "no man had set foot" when they really meant "no white guys," but the book is unbelievably "liberal" in its statements on people from India to what would become Vietnam, to North Africa. There is indeed some European Exceptionalism going on, but overall these guys seem to come away truly enlightened, wishing without paternalistic tendencies to join several of the cultures they visit and learn from. There are plenty of uses of the word "coolie" to describe day laborers, but all of the other racial epithets are missing - something pretty amazing for non-Anthropologist research done in the 1920s and 30s.
The most interesting part remains the observations of early 20th Century Earth, though, and how even in the 20s, we saw what would become conflict and change as late as the 80s.
Took a long time to read, as it was VERY dense. This is not a book about motorcycling, as I had originally hoped, but instead is a travelogue from two young, forward-thinking guys, following the secular humanist traditions of Austro-Hungary and Germany that started in the 1800s (the Germans were the "ultra liberals" in 19th Century America).
June 27, 2022
Every hardcore Rider's must read.
March 28, 2023
I really wanted to love this book as I have other travel bike trip books but I couldn’t get into the writing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews