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Title details for Speed Kings by Andy Bull - Available

Speed Kings

by Andy Bull
ebook
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A story of risk, adventure, and daring as four American bobsledders race for the gold in the most dangerous competition in Olympic history.
 
In the 1930s, as the world hurtled toward war, speed was all the rage. Bobsledding, the fastest and most thrilling way to travel on land, had become a sensation. Exotic, exciting, and brutally dangerous, it was the must-see event of the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, the first Winter Games on American soil. Bobsledding required exceptional skill and extraordinary courage—qualities the American team had in abundance.
There was Jay O’Brien, the high-society playboy; Tippy Grey, a scandal-prone Hollywood has-been; Eddie Eagan, world champion heavyweight boxer and Rhodes Scholar; and the charismatic Billy Fiske, the true heart of the team, despite being barely out of his teens. In the thick of the Great Depression, the nation was gripped by the story of these four men, their battle against jealous locals, treacherous U.S. officials, and the very same German athletes they would be fighting against in the war only a few short years later. Billy, king of speed to the end, would go on to become the first American fighter pilot killed in WWII. Evoking the glamour and recklessness of the Jazz Age, Speed Kings will thrill readers to the last page.

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Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Kindle Book

  • Release date: October 20, 2015

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780698193949
  • File size: 4653 KB
  • Release date: October 20, 2015

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780698193949
  • File size: 4653 KB
  • Release date: October 20, 2015
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Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

History Sports & Recreations Nonfiction

Languages

English

A story of risk, adventure, and daring as four American bobsledders race for the gold in the most dangerous competition in Olympic history.
 
In the 1930s, as the world hurtled toward war, speed was all the rage. Bobsledding, the fastest and most thrilling way to travel on land, had become a sensation. Exotic, exciting, and brutally dangerous, it was the must-see event of the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, the first Winter Games on American soil. Bobsledding required exceptional skill and extraordinary courage—qualities the American team had in abundance.
There was Jay O’Brien, the high-society playboy; Tippy Grey, a scandal-prone Hollywood has-been; Eddie Eagan, world champion heavyweight boxer and Rhodes Scholar; and the charismatic Billy Fiske, the true heart of the team, despite being barely out of his teens. In the thick of the Great Depression, the nation was gripped by the story of these four men, their battle against jealous locals, treacherous U.S. officials, and the very same German athletes they would be fighting against in the war only a few short years later. Billy, king of speed to the end, would go on to become the first American fighter pilot killed in WWII. Evoking the glamour and recklessness of the Jazz Age, Speed Kings will thrill readers to the last page.

Expand title description text
History Sports & Recreations Nonfiction
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