Since the arrival of the Lancia Aurelia B20 Grand Tourer (GT) in 1953, GTs have been the ultimate in luxury performance cars. This book, the first in a series of three, tells the stories behind some of the most glamorous and alluring vehicles of the fifties, sixties and seventies - the Grand Tourers. Since the arrival of the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT in 1953, manufacturers have competed - with both popular culture and each other - to find that perfect balance of luxury, accommodation, and sporting ability. With nearly 150 pictures and written from a social as well as technical perspective, this is a fascinating book with a choice of cars that will cause many heated arguments amongst motoring enthusiasts!
James Newman was a brilliant mathematician, the man who introduced the mathematical concept “googol” and “googolplex” (aka “google” and “googleplex”) to the world, and a friend of Einstein’s. He was also a notorious philanderer with an insatiable appetite for women and fast cars, a man who challenged intellectual and emotional limits, and a man of excess who oftentimes fell victim to his own anxiety. Jenniemae Harrington was an uneducated, illiterate African American maid from Alabama who began working for the Newman family in 1948—and who, despite her devout Christianity, played the illegal, underground lottery called “policy,” which she won with astonishing frequency. Though highly implausible, these two dissimilar individuals developed a deep and loyal friendship, largely because of their common love of numbers and their quick wits. Theirs was a friendship that endured even during an era when segregation still prevailed. For James, Jenniemae provided a particular ease and shared sense of irreverent humor that he found difficult to duplicate with his beautiful, intelligent, and artistic wife, Ruth. And when the Newman home was darkened by the tensions of the political climate during the Cold War, or by James’s affairs, or by Ruth’s bouts of depression, it was Jenniemae who maintained the point of gravity, caring for the family’s children when their parents were often lost in their own worlds. From Jenniemae’s perspective, James offered more than just a steady income. He became an unlikely and loyal friend. He taught her to read, and he drove her to and from his upscale suburban house and her home in the impoverished section of Washington, D.C. (and sometimes, much to her chagrin, in his Rolls-Royce), after she had been raped by a white bus driver. Intrigued by her uncanny wins at the lottery, James even installed a second telephone line in the house so that Jenniemae could keep track of her bets—a decision that raised a few eyebrows at the time. It is this extraordinary relationship that the Newmans’ daughter, Brooke, reveals in Jenniemae & James, as she elegantly weaves together the story of two very distinct and different people who each had a significant impact on her upbringing. In doing so, she also paints a vivid political and cultural picture of the time—when the world was terrified by the possibility of nuclear war; when America was reeling from the McCarthy hearings; when technological advances like televisions, satellites, and interstate highways were changing the country; when America was just beginning to venture into Vietnam; and when African Americans were still considered second-class citizens with limited rights, before the explosion of racial tensions in the early 1960s. Jenniemae & James is an inspiring, heartwarming memoir about friendship and love across the racial barrier.
Readers will be absorbed by text that chronicles the revolutionary design and technology that has shaped the world of automobiles, from the earliest days of Austin Seven, Ford, and Bugatti to the classic marques of Rolls-Royce, Chevrolet, and Lamborghini. With stunning photography, detailed statistics, and behind-the-scenes stories, fans of classic motoring will discover what makes a classic car stand out from the restincluding high speeds, revolutionary design, limited availability, and more.
It all started with the baby shower that friends gave Sergeant Hackett. There, Alice Mendoza, bride of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, met the insufferable Margaret Chadwick. But the next morning, Miss Chadwick's body was discovered in the Southern Pacific freight yards, neatly strangled and minus a single clue. That was when Mendoza was called in . . . 'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times
In 1960 a mysterious car crash killed Albert Camus and his publisher Michel Gallimard, who was behind the wheel. Based on meticulous research, Giovanni Catelli builds a compelling case that the 46-year-old French Algerian Nobel laureate was the victim of premeditated murder: he was silenced by the KGB. The Russians had a motive: Camus had campaigned tirelessly against the Soviet crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and vociferously supported the awarding of the Nobel Prize to the dissident novelist Boris Pasternak, which enraged Moscow. Sixty years after Camus' death, Catelli takes us back to a murky period in the Cold War. He probes the relationship between Camus and Pasternak, the fraught publication of Doctor Zhivago, the penetration of France by Soviet spies, and the high price paid by those throughout Europe who resisted the USSR.
Packed with more than a hundred completely charismatic classic cars, this book is the ideal gift for anyone driven to admire these majestic machines. Author Quentin Wilson has hand-picked the most astonishing, appealing, and all-round awesome cars ever to hit the highway. Multi-angle photography reveals the true craftsmanship and beauty of these stunning rides, and the text pays tribute to each vehicle and explains why it's destined to be a classic, now and forever. Test drive this essential car guide, and you'll be hooked.
The author of "Baby, I Don't Care," the "New York Times" bestselling biography of Robert Mitchum, takes on the dramatic life of the stunning swaggering star Ava Gardner.