Kicks

The Great American Story of Sneakers

By: Nicholas Smith

Narrated by: Christopher J. Grove

A cultural history of sneakers, tracing the footprint of one of our most iconic fashions across sports, business, pop culture, and American identity

When the athletic shoe graduated from the beaches and croquet courts of the wealthy elite to streetwear ubiquity, its journey through the heart of American life was just getting started. In this rollicking narrative, Nicholas K. Smith carries us through the long twentieth century as sneakers became the totem of subcultures from California skateboarders to New York rappers, the cause of gang violence and riots, the heart of a global economic controversy, the lynchpin in a quest to turn big sports into big business, and the muse of high fashion. Studded with larger-than-life mavericks and unexpected visionaries—from genius rubber inventor, Charles Goodyear, to road-warrior huckster Chuck Taylor, to the feuding brothers who founded Adidas and Puma, to the track coach who changed the sport by pouring rubber in his wife's waffle iron—Kicks introduces us to the sneaker's surprisingly influential, enduring, and evolving legacy.

Critic reviews

“A lively, engaging cultural history . . . Smith’s tale teems with freebooting DIY tinkerers [and] traverses the sociocultural trend lines of our time. . . . Fascinating.”—The Oregonian

“Readers of sports history, popular culture, and business will be fascinated by Smith’s exciting, informative, and multifaceted narrative of the major roles the sneaker has played in U.S. branding, perceptions, and culture.”—Booklist

“A history that goes way beyond sports and into the streets of the youth culture . . . a cornucopia of factoids and fun asides bursting with a wealth of in-depth information on every aspect of sneakers, from their birth to their current and continuing explosive popularity.”—Kirkus Reviews

“An offbeat history of the athletic shoe world with cameo biographies of those who built it, Kicks is a sneakerhead's dream . . . Fascinating.”—Shelf Awareness

“A fast, smooth run through the social, financial, and athletic history of the shoes that goosed the sports boom. New slogan: It’s gotta be the book!”—Robert Lipsyte, author of Sportsworld: An American Dreamland

“Kicks is a history of great, forgotten stories. I highly recommend that anyone who’s into sneakers and its culture read it and add it to their library.”—Dee Wells, Obsessive Sneaker Disorder

“A refreshing full-court run through two centuries via the sneakers we were inventing or wearing all along. From Daniel Webster to ‘Damn, Daniel,’ an entertaining account with something to say about culture, politics, and ankle support. An always fascinating book and easier to keep clean than Air Force 1s.”—Mark Chiusano, author of Marine Park

not a sneakerhead

I am not a sneakerhead but I found myself enjoying it. I now look at peoples feet wondering what kind of shoes they are wearing so I can tell them some interesting fact. I even had a guy call me "Puma" after I told hi. about Rudi Dassler.