Racing Past >> Book Reviews
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Book Review: Three Books on Emil Zatopek Frantisek Kozik. Zatopek the Marathon Victor. A Reportage on the World’s Greatest Long-Distance Runner. Prague: Artia, 1954. 215pp. Frantisek Kozik was a Czech writer with strong literary credentials. He was already established as a biog...
The Impossible Hero: The Life of Gordon Pirie
Book Review: The Impossible Hero: A Life of Gordon Pirie By Dick Booth London: Corsica Press, 1999 286pp Gordon Pirie and I crossed paths four times—though I’d have to say that his path was a huge airport runway to my narrow footpath. Before I ever saw him, he appe...
The Destiny of Ali Mimoun
BOOK REVIEW The Destiny of Ali Mimoun by Pat Butcher Algerian-born Alain Mimoun was voted “French Athlete of the 20th Century” by the magazine Athlétisme. As a distance runner he won one gold and three silvers in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics. His ...
Run to Win
BOOK REVIEW Run to Win by Charlie Capozzoli This autobiography is a wonderful historical document. It tells the story of a young American, the son of Italian immigrants, who became a top schoolboy runner in the late 1940’s and then an Olympian at the age of ...
As If Running on Air
BOOK REVIEW #5: AS IF RUNNING ON AIR: THE JOURNALS OF JACK LOVELOCK Edited by David Colquhoun Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, New Zealand, 2008 $49.99NZ This superbly produced 282-page large-format book must rank as one of the most finely produced books on run...
Showdown at Shepherd's Bush
Book Review: Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush: The 1908 Olympic Marathon and the Three Runners Who Launched a Sporting Craze. By David Davis New York: Thomas Downe Books, St. Martin’s Press, 2012. David Davis’s wonderful historical book tells the story of three ...
Book Review: Bannister and Beyond
Book Review Bannister and Beyond: The Mystique of the Four-Minute Mile by Jim Denison Breakaway Books, New York, 2008 256pp Jim Denison, Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, finds it “a strange omission of history” that “few records or statements exis...
Running: A Global History
Running: A Global History by Thor Gotaas Reaktion Books, London, 2009. 383pp. 15 illustrations Writing a global history of running is a huge undertaking. Few have attempted such a daunting project—only Edward Sears’ Running Through...
Plimsolls On, Eyeballs Out: The Rise and Horrendous Fall of Marathon Legend Jim Peters
Book Review Rob Hadgraft, Plimsolls On, Eyeballs Out: The Rise and Fall of Marathon Legend Jim Peters Desert Island Books, 2011 Although outshone by his contemporary and Olympic nemesis Emil Zatopek, Peters had a huge impact on marathon running in the early 1950s. It is accu...
Four Million Footsteps
BOOK REVIEW: BRUCE TULLOH, FOUR MILLION FOOTSTEPS Pelham Books, 1970. 178pp. By November 1967, the 32-year-old Bruce Tulloh had reached the end of a prestigious track career. Among his many achievements were a 4:00 mile and the 1962 European 5,000 title. One day he discove...