Archive for Items Categorized 'History', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Bomber

by Len Deighton

This is a novel but the level of research and attention to detail Deighton brought to bear could have easily yielded a nonfiction analysis of one fateful day and night in 1943 pinning German air defenses and RAF Bomber Command against each other.

A History of Auto Racing in New England

Dick Berggren, editor

Unless you live there you probably had no idea how long ago racing started in that region. This excellent book connects many dots that extend far beyond those six states.

Postcards of the Army Service Corps 1902–1918: Coming of Age

by Michael Young

From eggs to ammo, the Army Service Corps kept front-line troops fighting. This book presents hundreds of postcards showing what the daily grind was like, and from locales to fashion, it gives anyone with an interest in things historical something to relate to.

Betrayed: Secrecy, Lies, and Consequences

by Frederic H. Martini

Being a POW is hard enough. Not being believed afterwards, and even being denied disability benefits is worse. Having someone who knew of your plight but didn’t help be hailed as a hero is . . . well . . . this book will make you question who the good guys are.

F1: The Pinnacle, The Pivotal Events That Made F1 the Greatest Motorsport Series

by Tony Dodgins and Simon Arron

From technical and regulatory issues to people and places, this book connects those dots in time whose influence were not fleeting but gave form to what the sport is now and, more importantly, will be tomorrow.

Isorivolta: The Men, the Machines

by Winston Scott Goodfellow

Curious minds want to know: why was a firm that produced competent and desirable cars not strong enough to survive? and if they were competent and desirable why did the cars fade from memory within a few short years? The author was one such curious mind and his answers are presented here..

Shipwrecked and Rescued, Cars and Crew

by Larry Jorgensen

Winter 1926. A cargo freighter sinks. Thousands of others have sunk in the Great Lakes but what makes this story different is that not only the crew was rescued but the cargo—over 240 new cars, one of which lived to see its odo roll past 200,000 miles.

Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator (republished)

by Karl Ludvigsen

When this important 2010 book went out of print, it left a hole. Thank goodness it’s back, in exactly the same form. History has had no reason to fundamentally change its views of the mercurial Lotus founder in the interim so the recollections and analysis gathered here remain valid.

Indy Split: The Big Money Battle that Nearly Destroyed Indy Racing

by John Oreovicz

Big-time open-wheel racing in America is big business. And money is, as they say, the root of all evil. Followed by ego. If you can talk about CART, USAC, CRL, and IRL in the same sentence you know what this book will be about. It’s a bruising read—but there’s a happy end.

Searching for Charlie, In Pursuit of the Real Charles Upham VC & Bar

by Tom Scott

It could be the stuff movies are made of. In fact, two screenplays exist. The protagonist is the only combat soldier ever to win the Victoria Cross twice, and his bravery in World War II probably deserved several more. This book puts the source of his courage and daring into context.

The Great Influenza

by John M. Barry

You think Covid 19 is a horror show? How about the influenza pandemic of 1918? Read this book, although you may find it too close to our current tribulations.

Falconer’s New Universal Dictionary of the Marine, 1815 Edition

by William Burney (Editor)

First published in 1769 this fourth edition is the go-to book for the sum total of the naval knowledge and practice of the era of the Napoleonic Wars.