The Story of the Tour De France
by Bill McGann, Carol McGann
List Price:
Our Price: $14.35
You Save: $1.60 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Bill McGann, Carol McGannEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-07-25
ISBN: 1598581805
Number of pages: 316
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Book Reviews of The Story of the Tour De France
Book Review: Bringing the Tour de France to life
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill and Carol have have given us a wonderful history of the first 60 years of the Tour de France. They have brought to life riders who are long forgotten but deserve to be remembered. The descriptions of riders with all of their strengths and flaws make them human. The descriptions of the races themsleves give the reader the impression that Bill was in the follow car behind the race. The Tour de France is a fascinating and complicated topic, and Bill and Carol do it justice and then some.
Beyond the descriptions of the races, the explanation of how the race itself developed and evolved is fascinating. To have a world class treatment of cycling history and sports marketing on the same pages is truly remarkable. I had no idea that a possible explanation for the yellow jersey is that yellow cloth was the cheapest cloth.
Finally, this book is a fun read. Bill and Carol's passion for cycling comes through beautifully. They express opinions and present the colorful history of the Tour in a lively and engaging manner. You will be richly rewarded for picking up this book.
Summary of The Story of the Tour De France
"After forty years of study on the subject, I can with some confidence say Bill and Carol McGann?s The Story of the Tour de France is the finest such work ever produced in the English language, and perhaps in any."-From the preface by Owen Mulholland, author of Uphill Battle
"Besides towering over all bicycle races, the Tour de France endures for its unique Gaulic character, like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The McGann's passionate and insightful writing evokes the raucous cast of riders, promoters, and journalists thrusting through highs and lows worthy of opera. This volume stands out as a must-read book for anyone seeking to appreciate cycling's race of races."
-Peter Joffre Nye, author of The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz Age Sport and Hearts of Lions
"There are LOTS of books on the Tour de France. An increasing number of them are actually written in English. However, of those, none educates Americans about this grand spectacle?s rich past. The Tour de France has a history as fascinating and sordid as Rome?s and it is high time someone undertook to explain this to our American sensibility. Our guide for the trip is a man with a ravenous appetite for both world history and bicycle racing, just the sort of person to paint a Tour champion with the dramatic grandiosity befitting Hannibal himself."
-Pat Brady, Editor, Asphalt Magazine
At the dawn of the 20th Century, French newspapers used bicycle races as promotions to build readership. Until 1903 these were one-day events. Looking to deliver a coup de grace in a vicious circulation war, Henri Desgrange?editor of the Parisian sports magazine L?Auto?took the suggestion of one of his writers to organize a race that would last several days longer than anything else, like the 6-day races on the track, but on the road.
That?s exactly what happened. For almost 3 weeks the riders in the first Tour de France rode over dirt roads and cobblestones in a grand circumnavigation of France. The race was an electrifying success. Held annually (suspended only during the 2 World Wars), the Tour grew longer and more complex with an ever-changing set of rules, as Desgrange kept tinkering with the Tour, looking for the perfect formula for his race.
Each year a new cast of riders would assemble to contest what has now become the greatest sporting event in the world.
France Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Sports Library starters
Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympicsby Jeremy Schaap
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 2007-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops:
Gold in the Water: The True Story of Ordinary Men and Their Extraordinary Dream of Olympic Gloryby P. H. Mullen
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2003-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
The Story of the Tour De Franceby Bill McGann, Carol McGann
Dog Ear Publishing; Published: 2006-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.72
Price in other shops:
Running with the Buffaloes: A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men's Cross-Country Teamby Chris Lear
The Lyons Press; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartlandby Mark Kreidler
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2008-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Seabiscuit: An American Legendby Laura Hillenbrand
Ballantine Books; Published: 2003-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medalby David Halberstam
Ballantine Books; Published: 1996-05-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
100 Hundred Greatest Moments in Olympic Historyby Bud Greenspan
Stoddart; Published: 1995-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Gameby Ken Dryden
Wiley; Published: 2003-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.11
Price in other shops:
The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Teamby Wayne Coffey
Crown; Published: 2005-01-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.61
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Tour De France For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies))by Phil Liggett, James Raia, Sammarye Lewis
For Dummies; Published: 2005-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Cycling's Golden Age: Heroes of the Postwar Era, 1946-1967, The Horton Collectionby Brett Horton, Shelly Horton, Owen Mulholland
VeloPress; Published: 2006-09-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.70
Price in other shops:
Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de Franceby Floyd Landis
Simon Spotlight Entertainment; Published: 2007-06-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-Setting Eight Tour de France Victoriesby Johan Bruyneel, Bill
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 2008-06-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.94
Price in other shops:
Blazing Saddles: The Cruel and Unusual History of the Tour de Franceby Matt Rendell
VeloPress; Published: 2008-04-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.97
Price in other shops:
Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hellby Philippe Bouvet, Pierre Callewaert, Jean-Luc Gatellier, Laget Serge
VeloPress; Published: 2007-09-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.95
Price in other shops:
The Tour de France: A Cultural Historyby Christopher S. Thompson
University of California Press; Published: 2008-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.03
Price in other shops:
Ascent: The Mountains of the Tour De Franceby Richard Yates
Cycle Publishing; Published: 2006-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.73
Price in other shops:
Inside the Tour de France: The Pictures, the Legends, and the Untold Stories of the World's Most Beloved Bicycle Raceby Eric Delanzy
Rodale Books; Published: 2006-05-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops:
The Story of the Tour de France Volume 2: 1965-2007by Bill McGann, Carol McGann
Dog Ear Publishing, LLC; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.82
Price in other shops: