Customer Reviews

Race of the Century: The Heroic True Story of the 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race

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While the author had clearly done a great deal of research on the topic, I felt that the final presentation was rather hasty. In particular, the illustrations were small, of poor quality, without labels and did not identify the subjects.

The author's account of the last leg of the "race" from Vladivostock to Paris while acknowledging that little use had been made of local press seemed to make very little use of Scarfoglio's account or photographs.

The chapter dealing with the start in New York seemed unecessarily gossipy with too little analysis of the historical context of the race in the context of world transportation and the revolution that was taking place.

Nevertheless, there were major achievements to have captured the US newspaper accounts of the race and to have translated Hans Koeppen's book, but I am left with a thirst to know whether it will be published soon in English.

A good read but with a more detailed and better quality presentation of the photographs it would have made for a more collectible book.

Perhaps you've seen the 60s movie The Great Race, which was based on this real-life historical event. The "true story" is much more interesting than Blake Edwards' slapstick-filled concoction. Fenster, who has written extensively about the automobile industry and also written a history of ether (I hear that one's a gas), does a generally fine job in retelling the compelling story of the six international racers that traversed the United States, Siberia, and Europe for six months in 1908. The narrative draws extensively from documents of the day and the participants' own memoirs and recollections. My major complaint is that the book ends much too abruptly. After spending extended periods of time on the harrowing trek through America (which led to calls for an improved road system in the country) and the ordeal of Siberia, Fenster whizzes through the third stage of the race in a handful of pages. Granted, the European leg took place on good roads and thus did not lend itself to tales of near-disaster, but I would like to have heard more about the reactions of the cities along the way.

The book sets the race in the context of its time. It is well written. It clearly describes the difficulties encountered. Even though I knew the outcome of the race before reading the book, I couldn't put the book down because I kept wanting to know what happened next. I feel well-educated by this book and will seek out the author's other automotive writings.

A much underrated event in automotive history from the most underrated popular historian today. I recommend not only this book but all of her books, especially the one on Lincoln's career as a lawyer.