Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World

by Andy Bull

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.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History, Book Club, Biography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2015

About the author

Andy Bull is a senior sports writer at The Guardian. Speed Kings is his first book.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather inter3sting book. The story is about four athletes who formed a team at the winter Olympics in 1932. Their lives are set in turbulent times and theough their stories a vivid portrait is sketched of how the world was at that time.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bobsledding, king of the Winter Olympics – who knew? I admit I don’t think a lot about bobsledding in the years in between Olympics, but I was sold on this book from the description above. You have to love a story of athletic determination and beating the odds to get to the Olympics – even if that wasn’t quite what this team’s story was. It turns out that the bobsled course was a millionaires’ playground and the biggest challenge to the gold medal winning team was a paper pusher with a grudge. This did read in parts like a society column (thanks Sarah), but when balanced with the stories leading up the the Games I didn’t mind that.

A sport “for those rich enough to afford it and bold enough to brave it.” The men that made up the Olympic bobsledding team definitely were bold and overall – wow really rich. The connections between these men and Hollywood and Tammany Hall were fascinating to me and I definitely could have read more about those links. I liked the in depth looks at the bobbers – but I was frustrated that it was most in detail for Billy Fiske. He was a heroic man and deserves the attention completely, but for being a book about the team, it felt like in the end it was Fiske’s story with his teammates as footnotes. I was particularly fascinated with Eddie Eagan – from birth on a Colorado ranch to a Rhodes scholar to Olympian- and I would have loved to have read more about his post-sporting life. While the story of how the Olympics came to Lake Placid was interesting, I would have like more of the book to have been about the Games themselves rather than the maneuvering necessary to get an Olympic bid into place. Maybe the length of nonfiction books like Romantic Outlaws has spoiled me – I just would have liked more depth overall. In the end this was an interesting story and will give me something to think back on when I watch the next winter Olympics.

For the oddness of the story about the Dewey family and their involvement in Lake Placid alone this was worth the read – I’ll never look at this cataloging system the same way again.

3 stars

Thank you Avery Books for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

All quotes were taken from an uncorrected galley proof subject to change in the final edition.

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[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really interesting. It tells the history of bobsledding, how it became an Olympic sport and details the lives of the big players, specifically Billy Fiske, after the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. I love Lake Placid, and though I have never been down the bobsled run, a number of my friends and, more notably, even my grandmother gave it a whirl back when it was still fairly new. The book was well researched and it details a topic that is not something I normally run across. Honestly, they had me at Lake Placid. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. It has the feel of being in the Alps without having to leave the US. I couldn't tell you how many times I have been there, between Stars on Ice shows, a NKOTB concert in the '80s, competing in skating competitions (including the Empire State Games), and ski weekends at Whiteface. It's a very fun place no matter what your interests might be. This book added to my knowledge of the history and culture of the place, as well as detailing the lives of some pretty interesting people. I definitely recommend it.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished the book and I feel like I want to go tell everyone about these interesting, crazy rich, dare devils. I'm glad the book sort of focused on Billy Fiske because even though slight in stature he certainly seems bigger than life. I can't imagine racing down those mountains the way he did but I'm so glad he found his calling to make the Olympic story richer and this telling such a great adventure.

I wish the book had a list of characters for reference. If you are just starting out I recommend keeping a list because it is a lot to keep up with as they meet, head in separate directions, and reconvene at other stages of their lives.

I think the author, Andy Bull, did a spectacular job of wrangling all these people, places and events into an addictive story of adventure, risk and reward.

Thanks to Penguin Random House for the advance copy. In return I offer this unbiased review.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the kind of book I like - history that reads like fiction! Whirlwind action and perspective on the early 20th century across numerous landscapes. I'm now looking forward to the next winter Olympics with my new-found knowledge of bobsledding (it's crazy dangerous!), but the personal stories all the way to the end are what make this a great book.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program - thank you!

[Dennis McCrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book via the Goodreads 'First to Read' program.

A very hard book to read. And I am a very sports minded personality. But the book simply failed to grasp my attention and therefore interest was always a struggle.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book because the Olympics are on and my library showcased it as a book about the Olympics. So I picked it. I knew nothing other than the title, the cover, which shows bobsledders and what appear to be Olympians marching, and a blurb at the bottom saying "the 1932 Winter Olympics and the fastest men in the world". The picture and the blurb are incredibly misleading.

I spent the beginning of the book completely confused about what I was reading. It started off in WWII with a plane crashing at an RAF base in England. And then it morphed into a litany of random names and small stories for the 50 or so pages. Eventually the author got us to St Moritz for the 1928, first ever Winter Olympics. The book is focusing on Jay O'Brien and Billy Fiske for the most part. Their lives to this point and who they've been hanging with, what they've been doing, who Jay has married (Billy, at this time, was only 15). Billy has a natural talent for speed, and getting things to go fast. jay is a wealthy playboy who has made many friends and allies. Jay put together two US bobsled teams for the Olympics in st Moritz. He was brake man on Sled 1. Billy was driver on 2 and the other team members were Clifford "Tippy" Gray, Geoffrey Mason, Nion Tucker, and Dick Parke.

Then the book goes off on a huge tangent about Clifford Gray. I guess he was a bit of a mystery as there was another man of similar name (Clifford Grey), who had similar professions, and ran in similar circles. Grey, for the longest time, was credited for being on this team. The story finally gets back to the 1928 Olympics. Sounds like weather was a huge issue and some controversy (which seems to follow any type of big event) with the officials and their decisions. A future for other Winter Olympics was questioned. However, It was pretty interesting learning how Bobsled evolved into a sport and how at first riders would lie down sprawled on the person in front of them. So Billy ended up winning and his Sled crew won the Olympic Gold.

The 1932 Olympics was to be held at Lake Placid. There was a lot of history about the location, the bid for the Olympics, and Godfrey Dewey. The author was clearly not a fan of Dewey, and from what I read in here, I'm not either. He sounded like a racist a-hole. His father created a club like community at Lake Placid, and everyone there had to abide by his rules. But Dewey promised to provide a great destination and focused his money on the bobsled course. He was met with a lot of opposition but eventually got his bobsled run built.

Dewey was trying to have a home team advantage and fought with Jay O'Brien and the various organizations to get things his way. Ultimately, he lost. The was a Lake Placid bob sled team, but Jay was able to put another team together. This time it was himself, Billy, Clifford Gray, and a man named Eddie Eagan. Eddie was a boxer and we got his story. The bobsled run that Dewey had created was treacherous. People were frequently being hurt trying to get down the run. Some of the competition was eliminated just by doing practice runs.

But then the Olympics start and the weather was a disaster. It was unseasonable warm and there was no snow or ice. But finally the weather turned (after closing ceremonies) but they pressed on the with competition and at the end of the day, Billy's team were again the winners of Olympic Gold.

The end of the book was basically about Billy Fiske and how he volunteered for the Royal Air Force in England, and learned how to fly and fight. ultimately he was shot down and died from his injuries. his wife Rose was there with him. Jay died of a heart attack with his wife at the time (Dolly) by his side. Both women remarried and their other marriages were disasters.

Honestly, this book was basically about Jay and Billy. But mostly Billy. i feel like the Olympics were just a side note in the overall story, not the focus of the story. The beginning of the book was a mess for a reader who didn't know the players or what the author was trying to do to set up his story. If this book was really supposed to be about the Olympics, it should have started there, set the players and the stage, then gone back to give their backgrounds. I was pretty frustrated reading this, and when we finally got to the parts about the Olympics, I felt like the event was glossed over. Like that part of the story wasn't as important to the author. I don't know. Maybe I'm overly critical, but I was a bit disappointed. Now picking up a book to read about this speed addict, Billy Fiske, and his life would have been a better sell.

[Jim Swike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceeded Kindle limit, it was a good read. Enjoy!

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book mostly the people who competed in Bobsledding races in the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, with the focus being on one person in particular, Billy Fiske.

Bobsledding was a very young sport and attracted many risk takers who were in it for the speed. As was said in the book, riding a bobsled down an icy course was the fastest that man could go without a motor. Speeds reached over 70 miles per hour. This book describes the sport in it's infancy, when it was played over regular roads and in addition to crashing and hurting oneself from losing control at a high rate of speed, the riders also had to worry about crashing into buggies, autos, and people. It was so bad and dangerous that towns like Montclair in New Jersey banned bobsledding. But this did not stop the sport from growing.

In this book, the reader will meet a number of characters that I feel are worth meeting. Billy Fiske is certainly the main character in the book. Still a teenager, he competed and won tournaments that eventually led him to compete in the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympics. Later in life he volunteered and was accepted into the RAF, even though he was an American. Then there was Jay O'Brien. He was a rich playboy that finagled things to get what he wanted, which included a place on the bobsled team even though he was a member of one of the Olympic Committees. Eddie Eagan was part of the team. Eddie learned how to box and was a very successful amateur boxer. All the while he stayed focused on his studies and ended up graduating from college and became a Rhodes Scholar. The last person on the team was Tippy Gray. He worked in Hollywood, but did not find a lot of success, and was often confused with another person who was also named Clifford Grey. After introducing the reader to these characters, we are brought along for their journey to the '32 Winter Olympics where they had to fight bad weather, local jealousy from one of the town big-wigs, and others just to have the opportunity to compete in the event.

This is a very enjoyable book that I liked a lot that I would certainly recommend. People who like sports will like this book, even if, like me, they don't normally care about bobsledding. People who like history will also enjoy this book. It covers from the late 19th century until World War II. (It does give an account of the various character's lives afterwards, some of which live to 70's & 80's.) Though people who like history and sports will probably like the book the best, I think it has an appeal to others whose interests don't generally like with these topics. Think of how people enjoyed "Cool Runnings" because of the story. I think this is similar in part because the book reads like more like a story than many non-fiction novels do, and it makes the pages turn easier. As I said earlier, I would certainly recommend this book to others.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speed Kings tells the story of the US bobsled team in the early days of the sport. I thought it might be like The Boys in the Boat, but the Olympic race takes place in the middle of the book, so don't read this book thinking it will be sport-heavy, as it focuses on the lives of the men who were on the team. Granted, the men who were on the team led interesting lives, but the subtitle of this book is slightly misleading.

I found the part of building the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid interesting in that Melvil Dewey (founder of the Dewey Decimal System) and his son had a large part in building the first bobsled run in America. Also of note: the 4-man bobsled was the premier event in the Olympics at the time, the men sat sitting up in the sled, and most had other full-time jobs. A few of the Americans made the bobsled team on the merit of their past performances, despite not having made a run in over three years time.

The narrator on this audiobook is fantastic. He made the story more compelling and the character's voices distinct.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as an ARC through librarything from the publisher. Wow. Just WOW. I LOVED it! It's non-fiction that reads like a novel. Andy Bull does an amazing job of bringing these Olympic bobsledders to life. The third section wasn't completely necessary as it didn't pertain to bobsledding in the least, but was utterly fascinating and wrapped everything up quite nicely.

For the most part, Billy Fiske was the main focus of the book, outside of the bobsledding, of course. The first parts mainly explored a history of the sport, predominantly in Europe and even more specifically St. Moritz. Eventually, it led into how the Winter Olympics started up in the first place, taking the place of the Nordic Games, the fiasco of the early games, and the thrill and competition of the bobsled events. Additionally, the first two sections touched on the political issues facing the world at the time, like the rise of the Nazi party. The downturn of the American economy was also brushed upon when Bull discussed the issues, political and otherwise, that almost caused the 1932, Lake Placid Olympics to be reassigned, for lack of a better term.

Of course, no account of the early Winter Olympics would be complete without a description of its cast of characters however large or small a role they played, or how "mysterious" their stories have become. Among Billy's supporting cast were the likes of Jay O'Brien, Clifford 'Tippy' Grey, David Granger, and Geoffrey Mason, to name a few.

I would recommend this to the historian, sport enthusiast, and avid reader alike. It's a great piece about a little known group of extraordinary men and, of course, the history of bobsledding.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first this book held my interest. I liked learning the when and where of the history of bobsledding and something of the those involved in the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympic Games which is a very small portion of the book. Part of it reads like a gossip column on who was marrying who, stealing spouses, being divorced the spouse who was being cheated on, and any possible connections to Hollywood. The two winning bobsled teams had only Billy Fiske and Clifford Gray in common as Jay O’Brien had been in the USA 1 team which had members chosen more for their social credentials than anything else. I found the Dewey’s attempts to control who could qualify for the United States bobsled teams quite interesting as he wanted only the local men to win. He didn’t succeed, but in 1936 Avery Brundage did by wanting Billy Fiske to qualify and not letting him choose his team. He pulled out, the rest of the 1932 gold medalists pulled out and the United States didn’t win a bobsled medal in 1936.
This book doesn’t have a smooth flow to the writing and the bobsled team members, even the gold medal winning ones, don’t seem close. They’re a team for as long as they’re in the Olympics but once that’s over they go their very separate ways. I really wanted to like this book but can only say it’s okay and I did learn something from the non-gossipy parts of it.

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to start with a disclaimer. I received the book Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World by Andy Bull as an advance copy via a giveaway on Goodreads. Andy Bull, an accomplished reporter for The Guardian, may have bit off more than he could comfortably chew when he took the story of the 1932 US Olympic Bobsled team and tried to weave it into a full length book. Speed Kings reads as an awkward cross between a character piece and an account of the facts, never really accomplishing either to the satisfactory level. It begins in a disjointed manner with chapters outlining the history of key individuals without drawing clear relationships between them, neither setting a stage for development or clearly hinting at what is to come.

I found the writing uninspired, cliché ridden, and laborious. For someone of Bull's journalistic background, I was expecting much more from his debut. This work would be worth your time if you had an intense desire to learn about the origin of bobsledding, otherwise, I wish Andy Bull good luck on his next effort.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway, in exchange for a review.

Speed Kings focuses on the team who ultimately made up the 1932 Winter Olympics US team. Andy Bull gives us biographies of each of the four main team members. He uses a lot of detail - sometimes too much, as it made for ponderous reading. For those interested in the finer points of the Olympics, it will be an interesting read. He shares much data, race times, and a lot of the personal life of each of these four.

O'Brien was a high society playboy, Eddie Eagan was a world championship heavyweight boxer, as well as a Rhodes scholar. Billy Fiske was the youngest member and the leader, and Tippy Gray is a shadowy individual. The author seemed to wonder if he even had the right Tippy Gray, as there was another Tippy Gray who lived at that same time and ran in some of the same circles.

An interesting look at the Jazz Age, and the complicated social lives of people who live in a social whirl most of the time.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a First Reads giveaway from Goodreads.

The author does a great job of bringing to life the events and the people involved in the bobsledding teams that competed at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. In this narrative nonfiction, Andy Bull has completed extensive research to provide the historical detail necessary to present each individual a personality and even relays their motives and moods as gathered from personal letters and diaries.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tales of Billy Fiske, Tippy Gray, Jay O'Brien and Eddie Eagan, but at times the book is difficult to read as the author relates a great deal of the socialite society and climate that the characters in this tale lived.

Overall a great read especially for anyone with an interest in sporting history or pre-WWII society.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book that may be better in print than on audio. That may sound like heresy from someone who listens rather than reads, but accents (or rather, very curious, flawed accents) and women's voices killed this narration for me. And my expectation that this might be as satisfying as the Boys in the Boat was dashed. It's not that book. Probably a good sports book but not really about the 1932 Winter Olympics and the bobsled team--more, but not what the subtitle promises, and somewhat diminished for me. That said it's an interesting sports bio/action about early to mid-century men who specialized in sports involving speed. For librarians, there are some interesting revelations (true??) about Melvil Dewey, who may have been the Bill Cosby of the library world. Who knew?

[Tfalcone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me say from the start that I am a sucker for the Olympics and stories about them.

In this case, it was clear there was a lot of research into the history of bob-sledding and the early pioneers of the sport. It was enjoyable to see the very humble beginnings of the Cresta track in St. Moritz.

The main story is about the gold medal victories at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. I enjoyed the details of the story, but felt there was too much outside socialite information that detracted a little bit from the sport aspect.

Thank you net galley for the free reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Ellison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Begins with the end. The first one third is character building and shares the development of the sport which was originally done in the streets. Due to Deaths and injuries it was determined a closed course was needed. The 1928 Olympic is where it first appeared as a sport and was almost a canceled farce due to melting venues.

The son of the creator of the Dewey System snags the bid for Lake Placid for 1932. He lobbies the government for fund$ and gets the first fixed course built in the United States. Includes the usual questionable behavior associated with Olympic activities. Briefly about the 1932 games, B/W images.

[Don Gorman · Rating 2 out of 5]

(1 12) From the very start, it is painfully obvious that this book is tring to be like Boys in the Boat. It is not even close to that level of interest and writing ability. This book jerks around subjects and stories and is very hard to get through at times. Billy Fiske and Eddie Egan are very interesting figures but their connecting pieces go wildly astray some of the time. There is some good history here and some neat old sports stuff as well but overall it is much tougher to read than it should be.

[Sarah at Sarah's Bookshelves]

I initially DNF'd at 14% because there was much more information about St. Moritz high society than about bobsledding or the Olympics (which was what drew me to the book). It read more like a rundown of the society pages than a sports book.

But, after some prodding, I quickly looked at the beginning of Part 2 (starting around 35%) and liked the tighter focus on the Lake Placid Olympics better. So, I may give it another shot starting at Part 2.

[Exapno Mapcase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, you can certainly gain a profound understanding of all the people involved, as Bull provides a very detailed back story of every major person involved. I am surprised at the amount of detail packed into a relatively short book and it gives the reader an intimate view into the lives of early 20th century sportsmen.

Free review copy.

[Biblio Files (takingadayoff) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish this one as it was populated with the cast of The Great Gatsby -- children of inherited wealth spending their days driving Bentleys, sipping champagne, dabbling in the stock market. The story of the early modern Olympics and the development of the Winter Olympics was merely a sideshow in this book and didn't seem to be worth wading through the tales of such uninteresting people.

[EJ Darisse · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads like a long-ass newspaper article. The author took what could have been a compelling story and threw together a book with no plot structure and too much background info on minor characters.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:Too disjointed and the writing wasn't engaging enough for me to get into the many story-lines.

Ostensibly, this is a book about the 1932 Winter Olympics and the rivalry between two American bobsledding teams. That's true for a few chapters. Before that, we have a bunch of biographical information for different members of the team, interwoven with the history of bobsledding as a sport. We also get some history of the town where the 1932 Olympics were held. Afterwards, the story follows one of the members of the bobsledding team through his participation in WWII. I agree with other reviewers that the parts actually about bobsledding were the best and I would have liked more of them.

I think focusing in on any one part of the story would have improved it, even if that wasn't the bobsledding. I also think some authors could have gotten me to follow them through the many story-lines and digressions. This author did a lot of the right things. He consulted weather reports from the days he talked about. He used team members' diaries as a source. Unfortunately, he still didn't manage to conjure up a vivid picture of the times or people. I didn't feel like I really got to know the team members or their inner lives. Aside from the bobsledding sections, the story just wasn't very gripping. I learned a lot about the history of bobsledding. There were some fun anecdotes. It wasn't a bad book either; it was just far from the best narrative nonfiction I've read in its ability to tell a compelling true story.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey

[Barbara Phillips-Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an exciting story! These men (the 1932 U.S. bobsled team, winning the gold medal at Lake Placid) were fun to read about. The "hero" is driver Billy Fiske, but Eddie Eagan (poor Irishman from Colorado who was a champion boxer, a Rhodes scholar, and a Harvard Law graduate) and brakeman Jay O'Brien (international playboy) also led fascinating lives. The fourth member of the team, Clifford Gray, was not so interesting -- but then, he was in fast (no pun intended) company. Bobsledding was a new sport, having been introduced at the 1st winter Olympics, 1928 St. Moritz. It was and is very dangerous. Fiske must have had quick reflexes to thrive in such a sport.
Author Andy Bull writes well and quite clearly has done the requisite research. Local Lake Placid political maneuvering? Check. Traveling and hobnobbing with the "beautiful people"? Check. Getting to know Hollywood celebrities? Check. Joining the RAF by pretending to be Canadian rather than American? Check. Finding out about the history of a perilous, nascent sport? Check.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly fascinating look at the four men who rode the #1 bobsled for the US at Lake Placid in 1932. The book introduces the four men—Billy Fiske, Eddie Eagan, Cliff "Tippy" Gray and Jay O'Brien—long before they make their first place run. Readers learn so many things about the men in their younger days, especially war hero Billy (who also won the 1928 medal at St. Moritz) and Eddie, a champion prizefighter who traded blows with Jack Dempsey, and is one of only two people to win gold medals in both the summer and winter Olympics.

There are so very many interesting people that you meet when learning about these four men—everyone from Disney animators to Nazis—that I admit it can get a little confusing. That's a big part of the reason this only got 4 stars.

One of the people you meet, who plays a very important role in getting the games to Lake Placid, is Godfrey Dewey, the son of Melvil Dewey, of the library classification system fame. Turns out, they weren't the nicest of folks. The family basically built Lake Placid, but, like many others of the time, held racist and antisemitic views. Godfrey also plotted to keep the four guys from even competing in the Lake Placid games because he was determined a "local" team should win. It's really a crazy read, to see all the plotting and scheming that happened.

Anyway, this was a really interesting look at the events that led up to these four men being on the team, the Olympic Games at Lake Placid, and what happened to the men afterward. (The four NEVER rode a bob together again, which is kind of sad, IMO.)

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won my copy of this book free through a Goodreads giveaway.
This was a fun book, looking at the men who became the first US Olympic bobsled teams. I was especially amused by how closely Jay O'Brien and his second wife Mae resembled the characters of Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie. I am not really into winter sports, and I enjoyed this book, so folks who are into winter sports should definitely like this book. The author does a decent job of explaining the sport to readers unfamiliar with bobsledding, without bogging down the text with too much technical detail, and at the same time he explains the sport well enough that by the time he is talking about the issues with tracks, sled designs, and other more technical sides of the bobsled event in the first Winter Olympics, it made sense.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about the 1932 Olympics and more importantly bobsledding. Though the book speaks of four men it really focuses on one mainly, Billy Fiske, at least that is what I took from it. Not that I am complaining he was part of the winning bobsled team of 1928 and 1932 being the driver of both, he also was carried the flag at the 1932 Olympics for the U.S. He then would go on and fly for Britain only to be one of the first American flyers to be killed in 1940 even before we entered the war. He was also part of a ski lodge in Colorado. The other three men are spoken about and I wish they would have been gone into more detail for their lives seemed just as fascinating but it was not the case. Overall a good book

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good history story centered around the first Olympic Bobsledders, Lake Placid and WWII. Characters like Melvile Dewey who put Lake Placid on the map and was also responsible for the Dewey Decimal System of organizing libraries. Oddly enough he promoted phonetic spelling. His son Godfrey brought the Olympics to Lake Placid and wrote several phonetically spelled books. Eddie Eagan, the only Olympian to win a Gold Medal in both the Summer (boxing) and Winter (bobsledding) games. Also Billy Fiske a two time Olympic Gold Medallist and the first American to join the Royal Air Force in 1940 and die so that England would live.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book although I found it difficult to pick up and read for long periods. Maybe because the characters and settings are described in such detail that my brain couldn’t take it all in at once!
I wish I’d known Billy Fisk. He fits with every heroic story you hear from the time and he sounds very much like a hero that was blessed with self deprecation.
We will never be able to thank him and all the other people that did so much to keep our country free but it’s comforting to know that he is remembered in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. We don’t give many people that honour.