Archive for Items Categorized 'Biography/ Autobiography', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Looking for the Real Weasel

Train Robber, Racer, Rogue – Who was Roy James?

by Rich Duisberg

Remember the “The Great Train Robbery,” that infamous 1963 UK heist? Did you know that the getaway driver was also a racer, skilled silversmith, and bon vivant?

Wayne Carini, Steering Through Life

by Wayne Carini

This automotive memoir by a classic car expert and TV host talks about his life, influences, lessons learned, and of course the finding, collecting, and repair of cars.

Whitney Straight – Racing Driver, War Hero, Industrialist

by Paul Kenny

Born into a prominent family, he hated being referred to as the “Boy Millionaire Race Track Idol”—but he was all that and more, and on his own merits. He would have been more still if he hadn’t died young, at 66. And then this fine book would have had to be even longer!

Spada, The Long Story of a Short Tail

by Bart Lenaerts & Lies de Mol

The title sort of gives it away: Ercole Spada’s design career got underway with his interpretation of the truncated tail. Others did it too, he did it differently. At last there’s an entire—and supremely well designed—book about him.

Lords of Speed: The Great Drivers of Formula 1

by Roberto Gurian

The obvious expectation would be that this book is about all-conquering race winners. Some of them indeed are but they’re in this book because they’re “great” for other reasons. Forty-six bios, some will surprise, all will give you something to think about.

Kinser: A Racing Career Like No Other

by Steve Kinser with Dave Argabright

The most successful sprint car driver of all time retired from competition with a reputation for being able to outfox defeat in seemingly impossible-to-win situations. What made him tick?

Eleanor in the Village

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Search for Freedom and Identity in New York’s Greenwich Village

by Jan Jarboe Russel

Even as First Lady she maintained ties to the Village, in fact made it her permanent residence for a while after FDR’s death. What personal and political currents drew her there?

Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien

by Alex Vernon

“Vietnam made me a writer,” says O’Brien. This meticulously researched literary biography explores the life and journey that turned “happening-truth” into “story-truth.” If these terms don’t mean anything to you, all the more reason to read this book.

Lamborghini – The Man Behind the Legend

written and directed by Robert Moresco

A terrible movie—don’t get your hopes up. We review it because, well, it was a slow day on the ranch.

Ed Pink, The Old Master

by Ed Pink with Bones Bourcier

There was a time, before crew chiefs, when engine builders were as famous as the star drivers because they saw to every aspect of a car’s performance. Having built thousands of engines, at 92, Pink finally called it quits and finished his biography instead.

Leo Villa’s Bluebird Album, with 3D Images

by David de Lara with Kevin Desmond

The Leo Villa of the title spent almost his entire working life with the Campbell family of speed freaks, first Sir Malcolm Campbell and then his son Donald who between them held 21 land and water world speed records.

William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909–1913  

by Michael L. Bromley

Impressively documented re-appraisal of oft-maligned president, with special emphasis on autos. At an important early stage, Taft, in the face of opposition, articulated a national interest in the auto industry and the social advances of widespread motorization.

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