From 1915 through the early 1920s, American auto racing experienced rapid and exciting change. Competition by European vehicles forced American car manufacturers to incorporate new features, resulting in legendary engineering triumphs (and, essentially, works of art). Some of the greatest drivers in racing history were active during this time–Ralph DePalma, Dario Resta, Eddie Rickenbacker, the Chevrolet brothers, Jimmy Murphy.
Presenting dozens of races in detail and a wealth of engineering specs, this history recalls the era’s cigar-shaped speedway specials and monumental board tracks, the heavy-footed drivers, fearless mechanics, gifted engineers and enthusiastic backers.
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Soaring high above the fields and cities of Europe and Asia as well as the vast expanse of the Pacific, Allied and Axis pilots engaged in a deadly battle for control of the skies in World War II. Whoever won the skies would win the war.
Published in association with The National Museum of World War II Aviation, Storm of Eagles is a fully illustrated coffee-table book that brings together classic as well as never-before-seen wartime images. Compiled by one of the world’s premier aviation photographers and historians, this remarkable volume is a must-have for anyone interested in World War II aviation.
What was it like to sit in the pilot’s seat and take control of a P-51 Mustang in World War II? What about an F-14 Tomcat at the height of the Cold War? Or a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor today? The cockpits of these fighter and bomber aircraft are revealed in Fighting Cockpits.
Showcasing more than 50 of the world’s most famous combat cockpits from early World War I aircraft to present-day fighters, this book includes more than 200 rich color photos from photographer Dan Patterson, as well as detailed history about combat cockpit development from aviation expert and historian Donald Nijboer.
Presented in large-format, you’ll be blown away by studio shot spreads of views from the cockpits, vintage photographs of the aircrafts in action, and modern photography of surviving crafts. This book will complete any history buff or aviation enthusiast’s library.
Aircraft include:
Wind in the Wires: Nieuport 28, Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5, Bristol F.2, Fokker Dr.I, Sopwith Camel, Sopwith Triplane, AEG G.IV, SPAD VII, Halberstadt CL.IV, Fokker D.VII
The Rise of the Monoplane: Martin MB-2, Hawker Hind, Fiat CR.32, Boeing P-26 Peashooter, Curtiss F9C, Sparrowhawk, Vought SB2U Vindicator, Westland Lysander, PZL P.11
World War II: Supermarine Spitfire, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Handley Page Halifax, Vickers Wellington, Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Wurger, Fairey Firefly, Fiat CR.42, Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, Heinkel He 219 Uhu, Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, Arado Ar 234 Blitz
Cold War to the Present: North American F-86 Sabre, Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Grumman A-6 Intruder, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, Hawker Siddeley Harrier, McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 Eagle, Grumman F-14 Tomcat, Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, Mikoyan MiG-29, Rockwell B-1 Lancer, Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter
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.
During World War II, unprecedented employment avenues opened up for women and minorities in U.S. defense industries at the same time that massive population shifts and the war challenged Americans to rethink notions of race. At this extraordinary historical moment, Mexican American women found new means to exercise control over their lives in the home, workplace, and nation. In From Coveralls to Zoot Suits, Elizabeth R. Escobedo explores how, as war workers and volunteers, dance hostesses and zoot suiters, respectable young ladies and rebellious daughters, these young women used wartime conditions to serve the United States in its time of need and to pursue their own desires.
But even after the war, as Escobedo shows, Mexican American women had to continue challenging workplace inequities and confronting family and communal resistance to their broadening public presence. Highlighting seldom heard voices of the “Greatest Generation,” Escobedo examines these contradictions within Mexican families and their communities, exploring the impact of youth culture, outside employment, and family relations on the lives of women whose home-front experiences and everyday life choices would fundamentally alter the history of a generation.
The Audi R8 was the first in a line of world-beating sports-prototype cars from the Ingolstadt marque which would dominate Le Mans, and would see Audi remain at the forefront of international sports-car racing for over 15 years.
If such an award could go to a machine, Audi ‘R8-405’ – the car featuring in this book – was surely the ‘Man of the Match’ for the 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours. In the end it would finish second, behind one of its team mates which had a far less-troubled run, but it was not for want of trying by Allan McNish, his co-drivers Stéphane Ortelli and Laurent Aïello and their mechanics.
The Audi R8s would go on to dominate endurance racing for a further five years. The cars had already shown what they were capable of by finishing first and second on their debut, in the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 2000.
At Le Mans, apart from a brief aberration when a Panoz led under a full course yellow, ‘R8-405’ led the race for six hours. Trouble then intervened, but the car’s drivers never gave up, McNish setting fastest lap of the race in the morning still chasing his team mates Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro in the eventual winning sister car. That car would soon be on its way to Audi’s museum, but ‘R8-405’ would race on in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), driven later that year by Biela and Pirro and winning at Texas Motor Speedway and Las Vegas.
By the end of the season, ‘405’ and the other 4-series 2000-season R8s would be rendered almost obsolete by Audi’s introduction of a direct-injection engine for its new 5-series R8. That did not stop ‘405’ from competing for a further year in the ALMS, albeit in private – Champion Racing – hands, with regular drivers including Andy Wallace and Johnny Herbert. Despite its tender years, it would later go on to qualify as an historic car, and a host of new opportunities opened up as it became one of the most raced of all the R8s.
In 2020 the car was acquired by enthusiast Martin Halusa with every intention of taking it back to Le Mans in the future for the biannual Classic races.
The enthralling story of ‘R8-405’ is told in fascinating detail in this book, supported by a stunning array of photographs showing the car in action in its two years of ‘period’ competition, together with a gallery of fine studio images showing this ‘Great Car’ as it is today.
The ability of the United States Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the U.S. victory over Japan in the second World War. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded. When the United States realized war was imminent and ordered a drastic increase in the size of its aviation fleet, the Navy was forced to reconsider its earlier practices and develop new policies in maintenance, supply, and technical training. Not only did a shortage of technicians plague the Navy, but the scarcity of aviation supply and repair facilities in the Pacific soon caused panic in Washington. While the surface Navy’s modernization of at-sea replenishment was beneficial, it did not solve the problems of sustaining war-time aircraft readiness levels sufficient to a winning a naval air war. Fisher outlines the drastic institutional changes that accompanied an increase in aviation maintenance personnel from fewer than 10,000 to nearly 250,000 bluejackets, the complete restructuring of the naval aviation technical educational system, and the development of a highly skilled labor force. The first comprehensive study on the importance of aircraft maintenance and the aircraft technician in the age of the aircraft carrier, Sustaining the Carrier War, provides the missing link to our understanding of Great Power conflict at sea.
Triumph is truly one of the most enduringly popular names in motorcycling. The word itself literally means to win and Triumph the motorcycle maker has, for the most part of its 100-plus years,been a world-class winner. Author James Robinson, editor of The Classic MotorCycle magazine, delves into the recesses of the Mortons photographic archive to find rare images of beautiful Triumph machines from every era of the company’s history – from the early days in the late Victorian age to the Great War, the Vintage period (1918-1930), the 30s, the Second World War, the 1950s boom years, the cool 60s, the difficult 70s, the death and rebirth of Triumph in the 80s and beyond – right up to the present day.
Delve into Formula One’s most iconic rivalries with stunning photography, insight from celebrated F1 journalist Tony Dodgins and a foreword by nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber.
At the heart of Formula One lies the blistering contests and feuds between the drivers. The drama, personality and thrill of the sport is borne of these fierce duels, where only the fastest and savviest survive.
The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is one of the fiercest we have seen in Formula One in decades. Incendiary both on and off the track, the battles between the seven-time world champion and the hard-driving Dutchman have only served to highlight the importance of these dramatic conflicts to the sport.
In Formula One: The Rivals, Dodgins identifies the most prominent rivalries since the championship’s inception in 1950, including the feud between Hamilton and Verstappen. This highly illustrated book explores the dramatic collisions between drivers vying for the top spot, the bitter wars of words as tension runs high and the controversial decisions that have captivated viewers and delivered truly thrilling racing.
From the slow burn of intense dislike between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost to the verbal barbs dished out by Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet to the clash between James Hunt and Niki Lauda that inspired a Hollywood blockbuster, the rivalries include:
- Hakkinen vs Schumacher
- Hill vs Schumacher
- Alonso vs Schumacher
- Pironi vs Villeneuve
- Mansell vs Piquet
- Prost vs Lauda
- Prost vs Senna
- Hunt vs Lauda
- Hamilton vs Rosberg
- Hamilton vs Massa
- Hamilton vs Verstappen
- Vettel vs Webber
- And many more
This book is a must-read for all fans of the sport, whether you have been following F1 for decades or are a new fan drawn by the intensity of recent seasons.
Pre-order now for early 2023 delivery
Can-Am! The words are still magic to a generation of road racing fans to whom the Canadian-American Challenge Cup series represents the pinnacle of the sport they love. And who is to argue? Taking over from the USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship), as the feature sports car circuit in North America, from 1966 through 1974 the world’s best drivers and the world’s best racing teams put together cars that followed the rule of the Can-Am series: no rules! Anything went, as long as it had two seats and enclosed wheels. These “rules” set the stage for years of ground-and-pulse-pounding cars powered by bigger and bigger engines and daredevil drivers competing in front of motorsport’s biggest crowds. Years later the names still carry weight: drivers like Dennis Hulme, Bruce McLaren, Dan Gurney, Jackie Stewart, Mark Donohue, George Follmer. And what cars: McLaren, Lola, Porsche, Ferrari, and Shadow. But who was behind those awesome machines and drivers? Who could keep them going when the torque shook loose engine bolts? Who could spend an entire low-paid off season in small, cold and drafty race shops looking for an extra edge in performance and reliability? Who could toil in uncomplaining anonymity behind the scenes while the cars and their drivers basked in the considerable glory that went with Can-Am racing? The men portrayed in One Last Turn.
One Last Turn presents the first look at the men (and in those days they were all men, young men) who made it all work. The mechanics who towed the mighty cars on pick-up trucks and worked on them between races and between heats in the blazing sun and pouring rain on muddy grassy fields, who drove 90 miles per hour on the era’s two lane roads, towing a 2000 pound race car to make the next race’s starting grid.
Illustrated with many never before seen photos of the cars and people who made Can-Am great, this is the book that fans of the series have been waiting for.
The men who kept the machines on the track during the Can-Am years
Hilarious and poignant never-before told stories behind the scenes during the Can-Am years.
- Hard cover with dust jacket
The 1950s was a golden era for Detroit, reflecting the endless optimism and futuristic view in America following World War II. Car designers and stylists were inspired by current day fighter jets, space age technology, and chrome. Their creations sported great chrome grilles, bullet-nosed bumpers, enormous tail fins, cockpit-styled dashboards, and frames as big as aircraft carriers. The allure and emotional appeal of these cars has been well document in countless books over the years. But without exception all of these titles look fabulous 50s vehicles as the sum of their parts. None focus specifically on what many consider to be the most distinguishing aspect of many of the cars from the fabulous 50s their front grilles. Great Grilles of the 50s provides a close-up view, both visually and in narrative form, of the best and most dynamic grilles of the era. This 11 x 8.5 inch coffee table size book features 104 all color pages on acid free paper with library quality binding.
Ferrari and Maserati, a rivalry entirely made in Modena which began around 1926, when the Maserati brothers built their first racing car in Bologna. From 1929, the rivalry became direct, even though it was Maserati against the Alfa Romeo of the Scuderia Ferrari. In 1947, Enzo Ferrari became a manufacturer, following in the footsteps of the Maserati brothers who, in the meantime, had moved to Modena. For Ferrari it was the dream of a lifetime come true and the end of any envy towards who had been manufacturers right from the start.
During the 1950’s, if the Ferrari drivers did not stand on the podium then the Maserati drivers did. The results of the rivalry until 1957, when Maserati terminated its direct involvement in races, highlight three F1 World Drivers’ Championships and four Sports, three Mille Miglia, one 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari. The Maserati record book shows one F1 World Drivers’ Championship and a long list of victories in races worldwide.
However, this is not the whole story. A wider panorama is exhibited here, through the iconic cars of that rivalry.
Announced in 1912, the Schneider Trophy was a series of glamorous air contests, popularly known as races, that captivated both sides of the Atlantic. While there were many other aviation competitions, the Schneider proved to be, after a rocky start, by far the most memorable attracting a hugely popular and glamorous following whether Trophy races were held in Monaco, the Venice Lido, the Solent or Chesapeake Bay.
The Schneider Trophy was a focus not just of remarkable aircraft, derring-do pilots and swooning public attention, but also of fierce rivalries between the competitors: Britain, France, Italy and the United States. It gripped the imaginations of pioneering manufacturers and two of the world’s finest aircraft designers - Reginald Mitchell and Mario Castoldi – who worked feverishly hard to outdo one another. Perhaps inevitably, the dynamism of rival engineering and politics led to the most potent military fighters of World War Two with Reginald Mitchell’s record-breaking Supermarine seaplanes morphing, one way or another, into the Spitfire.
Wings Over Water not only tells the story of the Schneider Trophy afresh but also examines the backdrop and legacy of these legendary air races, which became a driver and celebration of speed and engineering prowess for both sea and ground-based aircraft. It is an exhilarating tale of raw adventure, public excitement, engineering genius and the fortunes of flying boats and seaplanes.
A monumentally researched biography of one of the nineteenth century’s wealthiest self-made Americans…Well-written and worthwhile” (The Wall Street Journal) it’s the rags-to-riches frontier tale of an Irish immigrant who outwits, outworks, and outmaneuvers thousands of rivals to take control of Nevada’s Comstock Lode.
Born in 1831, John W. Mackay was a penniless Irish immigrant who came of age in New York City, went to California during the Gold Rush, and mined without much luck for eight years. When he heard of riches found on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1859, Mackay abandoned his claim and walked a hundred miles to the Comstock Lode in Nevada.
Over the course of the next dozen years, Mackay worked his way up from nothing, thwarting the pernicious “Bank Ring” monopoly to seize control of the most concentrated cache of precious metals ever found on earth, the legendary “Big Bonanza,” a stupendously rich body of gold and silver ore discovered 1,500 feet beneath the streets of Virginia City, the ultimate Old West boomtown. But for the ore to be worth anything it had to be found, claimed, and successfully extracted, each step requiring enormous risk and the creation of an entirely new industry.
Now Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s amazing story—how he extracted the ore from deep underground and used his vast mining fortune to crush the transatlantic telegraph monopoly of the notorious Jay Gould. “No one does a better job than Crouch when he explores the subject of mining, and no one does a better job than he when he describes the hardscrabble lives of miners” (San Francisco Chronicle). Featuring great period photographs and maps, The Bonanza King is a dazzling tour de force, a riveting history of Virginia City, Nevada, the Comstock Lode, and America itself.
SIGNED
Relive Ford’s glory days in the muscle car era in this stunning new volume covering the popular and powerful Cobra Jets!
Ford’s “Total Performance” racing program in the early 1960s was the first stone turned in the task of repurposing its image to the youth market. The introduction of the Mustang increased that exponentially, but even in 289 Hi-Po form it was no match for the Pontiac GTO or other muscle cars. Neither was the 1966 Fairlane GT or subsequent 390 Mustang the following year. But when the 428 Cobra Jet Mustang debuted at Pomona for the NHRA Winternationals in 1968, that image evolved from wholesome to fearsome!
Cobra Jet Mustangs downed all comers and took the vaunted Super Stock Eliminator crown while introducing a new weapon under the hood to serve as fair warning to what was to be uncoiled at the stoplight. By the next model year with the revolutionary shaker hood on Cobra Jet-equipped Mach Is and the striking snake adorning the sheet metal of the midsize Cobra, Ford’s image makeover was complete.
The demise of the muscle car era didn’t signify the end of the Cobra Jet, as Ford continued the performance reign with the 351 Cobra Jet. The legacy left by Mustang, Cougar, Torino, Cyclone, and Ranchero 428, 429, and 351 Cobra Jet-powered vehicles is indelible. Mustang Monthly editor Rob Kinnan and muscle car expert Diego Rosenberg bring this history back to life in an all-encompassing book that is the first to specifically feature all Cobra Jet cars, including the purpose-built drag cars of today! Cobra Jet: The History of Ford’s Greatest High Performance Cars will hypnotize you as the first and complete history of Ford’s most famous engines during the era’s peak.
Just as the Galactic Empire used great fleets of starships to expand Imperial control across the galaxy, the subsequent authoritarian government, the First Order, used even more technologically advanced ships to unify planetary systems and crush all opposition. With both regimes, the most abundant and ubiquitous ships in their respective fleets were the notoriously lethal TIE fighters.
The TIE Fighter Owners’ Workshop Manual presents a thorough history of Sienar Fleet Systems’ twin ion engine space superiority fighter, from early concepts and prototypes to the mass-produced starfighters that fought countless battles against insurgent groups. The history of TIE fighters—including bombers, boarding craft, and shuttles—is fully illustrated with numerous photographs, schematics, exploded diagrams, and computer-generated artwork by Star WarsTM vehicle experts Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas. Text is by Ryder Windham, author and co-author of more than 70 Star Wars books. This Haynes Manual is the most thorough technical guide to TIE fighters available, and is fully authorized and approved by Lucasfilm.
My Greatest Defeat is a collection of honest and revealing insights into 20 of the greatest living racing drivers, legends of the worlds of Formula 1, Indycar, NASCAR, Le Mans and Rally. Interviews conducted specially for this book are with (in alphabetical order) Mario Andretti, Derek Bell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti, Jeff Gordon, Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, Jimmie Johnson, Tom Kristensen, Niki Lauda, Sebastien Loeb, Felipe Massa, Rick Mears, Emanuele Pirro, Alain Prost, Carlos Sainz, Jackie Stewart, Bobby Unser, Ari Vatanen and Alex Zanardi. Here are five highlights…
- Dario Franchitti — The Indycar champion talks of the deaths of the friends that book-ended his career in racing, the heartbreak that each caused and the aftermath of accidents that affected the physical functioning of his brain.
- Jeff Gordon — One of the all-time NASCAR greats, he looks back on his many championships, admitting that today he cannot view a single one with anything but regret as family relationships were soured and stretched to breaking point.
- Jimmie Johnson — One of the greatest stock car drivers in history, Johnson was at one time considered a reckless outcast. He reflects on the little-known crash that almost killed him and changed his mindset forever.
- Niki Lauda — A racer who needs no introduction, Niki Lauda discusses the loss of one of his aircraft over Thailand in which all on board were killed; for eight months he fought to clear the name of his pilots and change aircraft safety forever.
- Alex Zanardi — In a deep and revealing conversation, the Paralympic gold medalist, who lost both legs in an Indycar accident, discusses how we decipher between our passion and our ambition and how childhood dreams affect our adult decisions.
Striking portrait artworks come from a revered artist in modern comic book design, Giuseppe ‘Cammo’ Camuncoli, who is renowned for the dark, brooding style that has seen him become a staple in the Vertigo, DC and Marvel stables.
