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

Schneidige deutsche Mädel: Fliegerinnen zwischen 1918 und 1945

by Evelyn Zegenhagen

For women, even the sky has a “glass ceiling.” This book juxtaposes female German pilots’ desire to fly with the political and economic realities of the interwar years during which airmindedness and aviation blossomed.

Poetry in Motion: An Autobiography of a Supreme Grand Prix Driver

by Tony Brooks

The title alludes to Brooks’ combination of speed and smoothness. Publicity-shy, he never sought the limelight so it took 15 years of prodding to get this autobiography out of him. Find out what made him one of Britain’s premier racing drivers of the 1950s.

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?