Review
"[A] marvelously told story . . . The author provides a terrific backdrop to the 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' era in which his story takes place. On display are lucky scoundrels and unlucky geniuses, hustlers, hacks, and daredevils galore. . . . [Lawrence] Goldstone has written a book that beautifully captures the intertwined fates of these two ingenious pioneers."--The Wall Street Journal
"A wonderful, story-filled saga of the early days of the auto age . . . While aspects of [Lawrence] Goldstone's book will be familiar to auto buffs, the story is so compelling and well-crafted that most readers will be swept up in his vivid re-creation of a bygone era. The book abounds with detailed accounts of races, auto shows, and heroic cross-country journeys and explains in plain English the advances in automotive engineering that transformed early vehicles from playthings of the wealthy to functional, low-cost cars for the masses. 'Horse Is Doomed, ' read one headline in 1895. This highly readable popular history tells why."--Kirkus Reviews (starred reviews)
"A splendid dissection of the Selden/Ford patent face-off and its place in automotive historiography, this work will be enjoyed by business, legal, transportation, social, and intellectual historians; general readers; and all libraries."--Library Journal (starred review)
"This book contains the great names in automotive history--the Dodge brothers, Barney Oldfield, all the French (they seemed, until Ford, to lead the Americans in development of the vehicle)--and it is fascinating. . . . An engaging new take on the history of technological innovation."--Booklist
"Drive! is business history as you have never read it before. Lawrence Goldstone tells the tale of the important but now forgotten legal fight over the patent for the automobile. With more plot twists than a murder mystery and a cast of well-known industrial titans, Drive! takes the reader down the road from the dawning age of the automobile, when Henry Ford's dream almost turned into a nightmare."--James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power
"Utterly compelling and filled with fascinating stories and larger-than-life characters, Drive! is a joyride. I'll never get behind the wheel of my car again without thinking about Drive!"--Howard Blum, author of Dark Invasion and American Lightning
"In suitably fast-paced prose, Goldstone tells the enthralling story of the fraught early days of the 'Horseless Age.' The cast in the high-stakes battle includes brilliant engineers, Gilded Age tycoons, and reckless daredevils both on the track and in the boardroom--a heady mix of motors, money, and testosterone. Silicon Valley's billionaires have nothing on these guys for either ingenuity or ruthlessness."--Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome
"Goldstone pulls back the curtain on a totally new tale, long hidden from view, about the unsung heroes behind the most consequential invention of the twentieth century: the automobile. In doing so, he creates a refreshingly original account, a bold, powerfully argued retelling of the history of the automobile. A lucid, intelligent page-turner, Drive! will enthrall and enlighten you."--Elizabeth MacDonald, senior stocks editor, FOX Business
"Drive! is an exquisite treasure. Titanic court battles; personal feuds among robber barons; hair-raising, death-defying early automobile races; and a slice of history, beautifully researched and written, that shaped the country in the early twentieth century--there is something in this book for all lovers of epic, transformative struggles."--Dale Oesterle, Reese Chair, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University
"Drive! cruises back rooms, boardrooms, and courtrooms as pioneer racers compete for their place in motoring history. Hang on!"--Rick Hughey, International Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen
Product Description
From the acclaimed author of Birdmen comes a revelatory new history of the birth of
