Kicks

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

It’s gotta be the shoes. When Spike Lee said it to Michael in a 1989 commercial, it was with a wink and a nod-what makes MJ so good? His Air Jordans, of course. But as Nicholas Smith reveals in this captivating cultural history, Lee’s conclusion also speaks to the sneaker’s surprising journey into the heart of American life. Kicks follows the humble athletic shoe from the croquet courts of the elite to fields, parks, and streets everywhere, as sneakers became the calling card of California skaters and New York MCs, the spark of riots and gang violence, the heart of a global economic controversy, the muse of haute couture, and a lynchpin in the transformation of big sports into big business. Packed with great trivia and indelible characters-the mavericks, hustlers, and dreamers behind the sneakers’ rise-Kicks introduces us to a surprisingly influential, enduring, and evolving legacy.