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

The World of Vanity Fair

by Paul R. Spiring

You could study reams of dry textbooks about the Victorians, or meet them here, up close and personal in colorful caricatures and amusing and instructive text.

Clouds and Shadows

by David Tod

The subtitle says it all: “The reminiscences of life at the Motor Car Division of Rolls-Royce Ltd. Crewe—(Or, the adventures of a small cog in a big wheel)”

Jacqueline Cochran:
 Biography of a Pioneer Aviator


by Rhonda Smith-Daugherty

Beautiful and testy, Cochran held more aviation records for speed, altitude and distance than anyone. Despite worldwide fame in her day and being a relentless self-promoter, her name today is overshadowed by another’s.

My 1001 Cars, The Reference Edition

by Gabriel Voisin

This French pioneer aviator and airplane/car maker colored outside the lines and rose to be a captain of industry, rubbing shoulders with tycoons and beautiful women—and died in poverty and obscurity.

Frank Lockhart, American Speed King

by Sarah Morgan-Wu, James O’Keefe

Had he lived longer, who knows what heights he might have reached. His racing career lasted only five short years but showed such promise that the authors re-affirm Lockhart as “the greatest racing driver of his day.”

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

by Robin Jones 

His career reads like fiction. A 2002 BBC poll voted him no. 2 of the “100 Greatest Britons”—143 years after his death! No “15 minutes of fame” for this fellow, but have you heard of him?

Politicians, the Press, and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914–1919

by J. Lee Thompson

Think of this WW I-era press baron as a British version of Citizen Kane. He used both his personal interests and his political machinations—and his money—to champion early automobility and aviation.

Senna

directed by Asif Kapadia 

F1 fan or not, anyone who likes a big story well told ought to watch this documentary of a supremely skilled, courageous, enigmatic, controversial race driver who paid the ultimate price for doing what he felt he was put on this Earth to do.

Terry the Tramp: The Life and Dangerous Times of a One Percenter

by K. Randall Ball

Becoming an outlaw biker is not a choice you make, or is it? Maybe remaining one is. Terry still is a member, after 42 years, having been ousted as president of his club and gone to jail. Why?

Eric Gill: Autobiography

Introduction by Fiona MacCarthy

You’ve seen a Land Rover? A Rolls-Royce? Ever wondered about the crisp lettering of the logos? Wonder no more—Eric Gill’s your man.

Porsche and Me

by Hans Mezger with Peter Morgan

If you own a Porsche, or even just like them, and don’t know Mezger’s name: off with your head! Here, by his own hand, at last, the story of Porsche’s great engineer.

Why Not? The Story of the Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls

by David Baines

From ballooning to motor racing to seeing to it that Great Britain should have the capability of building a truly great car, Rolls did a whole lot more than he is remembered for today.

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