According to many, the simple habit of riding around on bicycles will  somehow set into reverse the bleak Nothing that has crept across western civilisation since the industrial revolution. It sounds fanciful, but when you consider the symptoms of mass consumerism - obesity, depression, boredom, environmental breakdown - cycling begins to look like a veritable panacea. Of course, it’ll never happen. Cars are here to stay, just like instant coffee, income tax and Perez Hilton. Frankly, I don’t particularly mind - the fact that mainstream society is so rife with obesity and mental illness only strengthens my own sense of superiority. It’s this kind of smug elitism that fuels Ianto Ware’s debut monograph, 21 Nights in July. While shrill academics rail against the injustices of the post-industrial age, Ware seems content in the knowledge that he, along with the rest of the cycling subculture, will inherit the earth long after heart disease has claimed the last suburban four wheel driver. Ostensibly a stage-by-stage account of the 2008 Tour de France, the book is more like an easy-going meditation on the politics and poetry of cycling, viewed from the perspective of a likeably misanthropic veteran of academia. More than mere sports journalism, 21 Nights is something of a personal manifesto, as well as an excellent introduction to the history of cycling.  -Stan