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

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.

Lotus Esprit, The Official Story

by Jeremy Walton

The Lotus Esprit may have held a record among British sports cars for continuous production—28 years and almost 11,000 copies sold—but pick up an automotive encyclopedia today and you’ll find that this Lotus hardly warrants a footnote.

Zagato Milano 1919–2009, The Official Book

This book does not come right out and say what it is. Neither do the press release or the advertising copy. If you know of Nada’s other Zagato books you would assume this new one to be along the lines of those others. It isn’t.

The Berlin Airlift: The World’s Largest Ever Air Supply Operation 

by John Grehan

The enormity of this 1948/49 operation cannot ever be overstated. This tiny book seems an unlikely candidate for doing it justice, but it does. Exceptional!

Born to Be Wild

by Randy D. McBee

Bikers—menace to society or upstanding citizens? Want to look at motorcycling from a scholarly point of view? If class, race, gender, sexual orientation, stereotypes, and politics interest you as much as cubic inches and spark plug gaps, this is the book.