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Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best

Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best

by Neal Bascomb

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ·2020 ·368 pages
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
48/99
Bottom of the Pile

21/99

Critics' Rating Index

Near the Top

74/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

77/99

Volume of Reviews

64/99

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About This Book

For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph by an improbable team of upstarts over Hitler's fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of auto racing. They were the unlikeliest of heroes. Rene Dreyfus, a former top driver on the international racecar circuit, had been banned from the best European teams—and fastest cars—by the mid-1930s because of his Jewish heritage. Charles Weiffenbach, head of the down-on-its-luck automaker Delahaye, was desperately trying to save his company as the world teetered toward the brink. And Lucy Schell, the adventurous daughter of an American multi-millionaire, yearned to reclaim the glory of her rally-driving days. As Nazi Germany launched its campaign of racial terror and pushed the world toward war, these three misfits banded together to challenge Hitler's dominance at the apex of motorsport: the Grand Prix. Their quest for redemption culminated in a remarkable race that is still talked about in racing circles to this day—but which, soon after it ended, Hitler attempted to completely erase from history. Bringing to life this glamorous era and the sport that defined it, Faster chronicles one of the most inspiring, death-defying upsets of all time: a symbolic blow against the Nazis during history's darkest hour.


Reviews

"Which is too bad, if it means turning away readers who aren't already racing enthusiasts from this otherwise excellent account."

Mark Yost· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A luminous book of sports history that explores a forgotten corner of the history of the Third Reich as well."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Bascomb combines a wide-ranging history of racing --- the tracks and the tricks, the storied rivalries and daredevil tactics that permeated a sport that killed many a driver --- with the rise of the man responsible for the deaths of millions ..."

Barbara Bamberger Scott· Bookreporter Read review ↗ Near the Top

"He describes the twists and turns of the 1930s Grand Prix races as if he'd driven the courses himself."

Nick Donofrio· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Of special interest to racing fans and readers of WWII."

Alan Moores· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Highly recommended for historians and aficionados of pre–World War II motorsport competition and its larger-than-life contestants."

John Carver Edwards· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"This rousing popular history fires on all cylinders."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

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