Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

The inspiration for the major Apple TV+ series, streaming now!

The riveting history of the American Eighth Air Force in World War II and the young men who flew the bombers that helped beat the Nazis and liberate Europe, brilliantly told by historian and World War II expert Donald L. Miller. The Masters of the Air streaming series stars Austin Butler and Callum Turner, and is produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the legendary duo behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured US air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers.

The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America—white America, anyway. The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.

Masters of the Air is “a stunning achievement” (David McCullough), “a fresh new account” (Walter Boyne, former director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum) of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account that “accurately and comprehensively” (Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (Ret.) and coauthor of Cobra II) tells of the world’s first and only bomber war.

Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire  SLIPCASE EDITION

Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire SLIPCASE EDITION

When Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898, automobiles were still a novelty in his native Italy. When he died ninety years later, the company he built stood at the top of a global industry, with the Ferrari name universally recognized for performance, racing prowess, and state-of-the-art Italian design. Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automotive Empire is the definitive account of an epic life.

Drawing on years of original research conducted in Italy and abroad, author and Ferrari insider, Luca Dal Monte, uncovers a wealth of new facts about Enzo’s origins, ambitions, business practices, and private life. The book revisits all the highlights of Ferrari’s rise to greatness: his driving career in the 1920s; his management of racing teams for Alfa Romeo in the 1930s; the launch of his own company and team in the late 1940s, and his unprecedented successes building cars for the road and race track in the following decades. But the book also examines lesser-known and sometimes hidden aspects of Ferrari’s career, from his earliest failed business ventures to his political dealings with Italy’s Fascist government, Allied occupiers, and even Communist leaders. And it lays bare the internal politics of the Ferrari company and team, whose leader manipulated employees, drivers, competitors and the media with a volatile mixture of brute force, paranoia, and guile.

Accompanying the in-depth text are extensive endnotes along with a full bibliography and index. The book is illustrated with four separate sections of photos, exhibits and artefacts, and opens with a foreword by former Ferrari president Luca Di Montezumolo, who previously served as the company’s Formula One team manager.

This is truly the definitive biography of Enzo Ferrari, one that makes previous accounts obsolete. Its depth, scale, and detail make it essential reading for automotive and motorsport enthusiasts. But other readers will be drawn to a sweeping story of Italian life, business, and culture during the 20th century.

Works Minis In Detail: BMC & British Leyland works Mini competition entries, car-by-car

Works Minis In Detail: BMC & British Leyland works Mini competition entries, car-by-car

The works Minis had a long and distinguished competition history between 1959 and 1970, when British Leyland bosses closed the Abingdon Competition Department. The car started its competition career chasing class awards with the diminutive 850cc Mini, but once race car designer John Cooper persuaded BMC that they should build a hot version, the Mini Cooper was born and things moved up a gear.

With the introduction of the Mini Cooper S, the car soon became a world beater. Winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in the hands of Paddy Hopkirk was a watershed moment which the Abingdon team repeated three times. During that 11-year period, 77 works Minis were built, competing in more than 300 events, most of them international rallies. The 1969 season, when the works Minis went racing, is also covered, along with the rallycross events.

Works Minis in Detail covers each one of those 77 cars which, in their distinctive red and white paintwork, were a force be reckoned with wherever they competed. Build details of every car are provided, drawn from factory build sheets, with information also on when cars were reshelled and identities swapped. The details of the events entered and the drivers are the result of analysing hundreds of contemporary race and rally reports.

The result is the most in-depth study of the works Minis ever published, made possible by years of research by Robert Young, a lifelong Mini enthusiast. As the Mini Cooper Register’s ex-works registrar, club chairman and for many years archivist, he is well placed to write with authority. A proud owner himself, he has intimate knowledge of the little red cars.

Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire

Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire

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When Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898, automobiles were still a novelty in his native Italy. When he died ninety years later, the company he built stood at the top of a global industry, with the Ferrari name universally recognized for performance, racing prowess, and state-of-the-art Italian design. Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automotive Empire is the definitive account of an epic life.

Drawing on years of original research conducted in Italy and abroad, author and Ferrari insider, Luca Dal Monte, uncovers a wealth of new facts about Enzo’s origins, ambitions, business practices, and private life. The book revisits all the highlights of Ferrari’s rise to greatness: his driving career in the 1920s; his management of racing teams for Alfa Romeo in the 1930s; the launch of his own company and team in the late 1940s, and his unprecedented successes building cars for the road and race track in the following decades. But the book also examines lesser-known and sometimes hidden aspects of Ferrari’s career, from his earliest failed business ventures to his political dealings with Italy’s Fascist government, Allied occupiers, and even Communist leaders. And it lays bare the internal politics of the Ferrari company and team, whose leader manipulated employees, drivers, competitors and the media with a volatile mixture of brute force, paranoia, and guile.

Accompanying the in-depth text are extensive endnotes along with a full bibliography and index. The book is illustrated with four separate sections of photos, exhibits and artefacts, and opens with a foreword by former Ferrari president Luca Di Montezumolo, who previously served as the company’s Formula One team manager.

This is truly the definitive biography of Enzo Ferrari, one that makes previous accounts obsolete. Its depth, scale, and detail make it essential reading for automotive and motorsport enthusiasts. But other readers will be drawn to a sweeping story of Italian life, business, and culture during the 20th century.

Rover V8 – the story of the engine

Rover V8 – the story of the engine

Rover V8 the Story of the Engine tells the fascinating story of the engine that created a legend in its own lifetime. Starting life as a General Motors design in 1961, but withdrawn three years later in favour of cheaper technology, it reached Rover by chance in the mid-1960s. Few other British companies then had V8 engines in production, and Rover immediately gained a special status when the V8 entered UK production during 1967. This was an extraordinarily compact design and also extraordinarily light, thanks to its all-aluminium alloy construction. It was not a temperamental high-performance engine, but had a well-proven and simple architecture that made it both reliable and easy to work on. Small wonder, then, that the Rover V8 was bought by sports car makers who needed a light, compact and powerful engine. Small wonder that Rover kept it in production for so long, developing multiple different sizes and versions. Small wonder that the engine is still revered by Rover and Land Rover enthusiasts today, or that its popularity as an aftermarket conversion has ensured that it remains in small-volume production, half a century after entering production in the UK.

111 Porsche Stories You Should Know

111 Porsche Stories You Should Know

When we think of Porsche, we think of at least two things: that beautiful, distinctive design, and that incredible speed.

The new hardcover book, 111, Porsche Stories That You Should Know is filled with tales and historic photographs that reveal many fascinating aspects of this remarkable car, such as:

  • behind the scenes in a desert camp during the Paris-Dakar Rally of 1984, waiting for René Metge to appear in the Porsche 911 Carrera 4×4;

  • what happened to the very first two Porsches to arrive in Australia, a chestnut brown coupé and a fish-silver 356 cabriolet with the first right-hand drive;

  • how the racing department tested and tortured Porsche brakes on the 21-km downhill run at Mont Ventoux…

 …And 108 more stories of heroic drivers, grueling races, dramatic victories, and unique personalities that have been drawn to Porsche since the early days when 23-year-old Ferdinand Porsche started his first job in the automotive industry in 1899.

Author Wilfried Müller writes, “This is a book full of Porsche Stories. Not a history book, and not a work of reference – but 111 crisp and delicious stories to amaze you, to make you smile, to delight you.”

For lovers of this car in all its forms, for those who appreciate astounding engineering, and for those who simply appreciate its beauty, the Porsche comes to life in this uniquely wonderful book.

American Diner

American Diner

The rise of the American diner is the most savory of phenomenons, where classic architecture, a friendly face behind the counter, and some mean pie all combined to make these little roadside stops a treasured part of history.

From the early days when Walter Scott brought his horse-drawn lunch wagons through the streets to the heyday of mass-produced chrome and neon diners in the 1950s, The American Diner offers a full blue-plate special of nostalgia for all those who loved the counter culture of these great eateries.

More than 250 historical and bright colorful photographs help remind us of life before fast food, and generous helpings of classic advertisements, cool collectibles, and architectural highlights also highlight the era.

Diners from coast to coast are featured, giving readers a trip to some of the best stainless-steel and neon diners that still dot the American roadways.

Ayrton Senna All His Races

Ayrton Senna All His Races

“This definitive record of Ayrton Senna’s racing life provides detailed coverage of every single race in which he competed, including karting, Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 1, in addition to one-off appearances and tests in other categories, such as the World Sports Car Championship and Indy Car. The engaging text features insightful new material drawn from interviews with many of Senna’s rivals and colleagues and is accompanied by a rich array of high-quality period photographs. This lavish book provides a fitting tribute to a Formula 1 legend whose legacy today extends far beyond the world of motor racing.
The fabulous photographs in this book were captured through the lenses of Sutton Images, where brothers Keith and Mark Sutton between them followed Senna’s meteoric career from the very beginning. Their contribution starts with his very first race win and ends with poignant images from Imola ’94.
The karting years: racing in Brazil and South America between 1973 and 1977, and Senna’s efforts to win the elusive karting World Championship between 1978 and 1981.
Formula Ford 1600 and 2000: racing with the Van Diemen works team in 1981, before progressing to FF2000 in 1982, dominating the British and European championships.
Formula 3: the battle with Martin Brundle for the 1983 British F3 Championship.
Formula 1 baptism with Toleman: nearly winning the rain-shortened Monaco Grand Prix, and qualifying third at Estoril, behind Piquet’s Brabham and Prost’s McLaren.
The Lotus years, 1985–87: Senna’s first wins, at Estoril and Spa in 1985, two more wins in 1986, and his final Lotus year, with wins in Monaco and Detroit, before signing for McLaren for the 1988 season.
The McLaren years, 1988–93: first world title in 1988 followed by an acrimonious year with team-mate Alain Prost in 1989.
Two further world titles in 1990 and 1991, as Williams emerges to dominate with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, Senna winning five races in his final year for McLaren.
The final season: driving for a no-longer-dominant Williams, struggling to take the fight to Benetton and Michael Schumacher, before tragically losing his life at Imola.

Double Nickel II  – Hot Rod and Custom art by Yoshio Nakazawa

Double Nickel II – Hot Rod and Custom art by Yoshio Nakazawa

“Double Nickel 2” is a long-awaited release of a collection of artworks by Yoshio Nakazawa. He is an active contributor to in American cars and bike specialty magazines, fashion and lifestyle magazines. The book includes air brush, watercolor, and digital works which have been drawn over a the last 25 years, . His work provides a variety of lyrical expressions that let you feel realistic depiction of the subject from  rusty junk yards to cool custom bikes,  from the classic cars with gleaming chrome which evoke the dry air and smell of America. If you are a fan of cars or automotive art this is a book want to own.
About the author
Born in Tokyo in 1959. Graduated from Tama Art University graphic design department. In 1985, he debuted professionally in a series of motorbike specialty magazines, and released works based on American Hot Rod, Kustom, Biker culture. His work has a realistic descriptive power and lyrical expression and is popluar in  a wide range of fields including publication and advertising. In 2008, he was invited to the art show “California Screamin 3” at Los Angeles art gallery “Gasoline” to display his works which received high praise from around the world.

Hard cover 168 pages

 

Corvette From the Inside

Corvette From the Inside

Celebrations begin this year to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Chevrolet Corvette. There’s no one more qualified than Dave McLellan to reflect upon the remarkable endurance of this legendary American icon. Dave McLellan belongs to a select group by having been the second of only three Corvette Chief Engineers to date. He is also the very first Corvette Chief Engineer to sit down and write his view of the incredible story of America’s foremost sports car.In Corvette from the Inside Dave McLellan talks about his years at the center of Corvette Engineering, his take on Corvette history and many of the details that have made the Corvette a perennial favorite with millions of Americans. As McLellan describes the incredible highs and lows in the life of the Corvette, he also paints the bigger picture of the American auto industry’s ability to rebuild itself whenever its survival is threatened.McLellan uses every tool at his disposal to tell his story, including original sketches and charts drawn by him exclusively for this book, scores of archival photos from GM, photos from his personal collection, and of course his own first-hand memories of 32 years at General Motors. Whether you’re interested in the Corvette from an engineering perspective or simply a fan of the celebrated sports car, you’ll want to own a copy of Dave McLellan’s Corvette from the Inside.

All Tore Up  Texas Hot Rod Portraits

All Tore Up Texas Hot Rod Portraits

The Texas hot rod scene encompasses the exhaust, speed, rust, and chrome beloved not just by greasers and gearheads but also by families and pinup girls, bikers and rockabilly dolls, rockers and regular Joes. The Lonestar Rod & Kustom Round Up, one of America’s premier car shows, attracts hot rod and custom car fans from around the world, bringing them to Austin every spring. George Brainard began photographing the Round Up in 2003 on behalf of the show hosts, The Kontinentals Car Club. Finding himself interested as much in the crowd and the culture as in the cars, he began taking pictures of people at the show.

All Tore Up presents portraits of these people, who are as distinctive as the cars they love. As Brainard observes, “Hot rods and customized cars are works of art. You take an old car, cut it into pieces, and put it back together following your own vision. You bring something to life that previously existed only in your imagination.” The people who do this “are drawn to aesthetic expression, and they materialize it in their own selves, their clothes, and their bodies.” Allowing his subjects to pose themselves against a plain white background and write their own captions for their photographs, Brainard cuts through the visual spectacle of the car show and finds the essence of the people who are a part of it, capturing a fascinating pop subculture of American life.

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