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

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.

Ladies of Lascaris: Christina Ratcliffe and the Forgotten Heroes of Malta’s War

by Paul McDonald

The RAF did tremendously important reconnaissance work on Malta, and the women and girls who worked as plotters and cipherenes helped. Obviously, they had private lives, and Ratcliffe’s in particular is way out there.

Carlo Demand In Motion and Color: Automobile Racing 1895–1956

by Gary D Doyle

The German artist Carlo Demand (1921–2000) illustrated more books than any other artist, yet his name is not nearly as well known as that of many of his contemporaries or as the quality of his work would indicate.

The Grand Prix Saboteurs

by Joe Saward

The idea of racing drivers having a side gig as secret agents seems the stuff of fantasy—but it really did happen. Telling that story was long overdue—but the book has become a victim of almost two decades worth of research struggling to remain intelligible.

The Coventry Motor Industry: Birth to Renaissance

by David Thoms & Tom Donnelly

Coventry is synonymous with both the creation and relative decline of the British motorcar industry. This text explores the relationship between the car industry in its local context, and the wider economic, social and political environment.