Better place. We are proud to offer copies of his book shipped directly to you. We hope you enjoy this effectively hope you support him. Purchase a copy for you or any of your friends. You can see it at the bottom of the screen. Purchasing the book be able to provide you with events directly to wherever you are. In the event coordinator. I helped produce hundreds of author event each year with a fantastic team here in st. Louis. I personally so happy to bring this up next year to make. We will take questions from the audience periodically throughout the event. Please have your questions in the comment and i will read th them, and as we gather comments. I will provide the links george driver entered the american era in a legendary in the comments. They were the unlikeliest of heroes, a former top driver on international racecar and from best european teams are the mid 1930s because of his jewish heritage. Charles, if i got wrong, auto maker, desperately trying to save his company as the world teetered toward the brink. The adventurous daughter is an american multimillionaire to reclaim territory of driving days. Once the campaign of racial tear and push the world toward war. They banded together to challenge dominant at the apex of motorsports. Request for reduction culminated in a remarkable way talk about to this day but which, after it ended, hitler attempted to completely erase from history. Frankie like this glamorous era after article one of the most inspiring the fine sense of alltime, symbolic low during historys darkest hour. New york times bestselling author a full throttle reminder of the power of heroes to inspire us in dark times. Its brought to life the gripping research detail of an unlikely band of dreamers who list every challenge. Sports, politics and human passion collide in this book. Bringing the excitement of motor race onto a page is no easy task but it succeeds hugely. Victory over the nazis as a victory for assault. Tonight, the awardwinning author and bestselling author of winter, a perfect mount among others and he was in st. Louis so welcome from afar and now, i would like to bring neil into the conversation so if you are quite give a round of applause for neil. Hello, everybody. Thank you for that great introduction. I do want to say for anyone watching that is not incredibly familiar with the history for me personally, this was an incredible and very easy, easy, but an enthralling parade and i appreciate the comparisons of this book to boys in the boat and seabiscuit. For other sports i dont know anything about, this was very properly matched. But now im going to let neil talk a little bit about the book and then i will come in and ask some questions. Thanks, its nice to be talking to fans, so i came to write, i was in new york and a friend of mine asked me a press release, wall street journal editor and he brought this car, manufacture named l. A. That had been resurrected and brought by this american millionaire and restored and raised at the contour. It wasnt just this sort of maturity of what the scarlet like, a kind of looks like a praying mantis on wheels but the back story itself was profiled towards this car, soon after the nazis invaded, hitler signed men to find a car and have it destroyed. He also sent individuals to officers, to Automobile Club in france, all records are taken by the nazis and destroyed. So i was very intrigued by this story of what this car could have done to engender such a response from hitler and what was it about this car parked what was it about this event and grand prix that made it so important . As i began to get the story about when the drive this, george driver informed his back story and the fact that he was a reluctant hero, he, his father took his jewish faith, his mother was catholic, he didnt really strive to one religion or another suddenly in the mid 30, 1938 found himself forced in this position of being in the jewish people, the nazis and that story coupled with the fact that it had this female heroine, lucy shall, she was the american who could very well be in paris and new york and instead, she was this very brave and brazen individual who became one of the earliest female racecar drivers, she was one of the best monte carlo racecar drivers she decided at a certain time, 1936 to take on the germans and she would support and lead the development, racecar and a team to defeat the nazis. Thats where theres been much done and then began the course of roughly two years, researching this littleknown story was kind of one of those stories that you had to dig up from the past family members going all over france and europe and elsewhere, the people involved in this story and what exactly happened and why and who the individuals were and what motivated them. So a tremendously fun book, i wouldnt even call myself a car guy at the beginning of writing it but after spending about three years and having the experience driving this racecar, article myself a car right now. Our love to answer questions and make it as interactive as possible with my, my first ever bookstore Virtual Event so i appreciate everyone coming. I do have a couple questions i wanted to ask from my reading, the first that struck me so much was how dangerous racing was and how many people perished from these races, whether spectators or the drivers were the numbers staggering to you . Was a just notable to me from reading . No, it was staggering. A long time ago, i wrote a book about the skyscrapers and new york in the 20s and i was alarmed about time, the people actually perished in these buildings but nothing compared to what the dangers of these racecar drivers were. This period of time, which many off the golden age of racing, was also one of the deadliest times because cars had gone from going at the very best, 100 miles an hour over the course of a race, going 200 miles an hour with no advancement whatsoever, really and safety. Today, we have both die die and racecar driving today, they have clothes and helmet, theyre very insulated valve. This time from the 30s, even though they go so much faster, didnt even have seatbelts. They literally had to break the like because the side of the cockpit, the driver seat in order to stay in the car sometimes. They have no comments, they had a cast, clouds about it. No cage or anything like that. It was not uncommon for drivers, one or two drivers to perish every week and the grand prix. It was devastating and death, he became aware of it, it was your companion in the car. Its just something you had to expect so it was a very lethal smart time and became even more lethal as countries began facing their National Pride on how fast their cars would go. Thats the heart of what its about, that nationalism ended up infecting grand prix racing as it did in 1936. Another thing i noticed, was there a comparison made to the time and current. I know there are a lot of comparisons or a lot of things that people may or may not disagree with. You did make some very spot on comments about the Racial Disparity happening then another thing that i am surprised that even know about, would be cars right before world war ii are they had automobile makers stopping production of cars and i think right now, its stopping a lot of production out there and switching to trucks. I didnt know if that was another just yuriy comparison to the time or if its also kind of a mile marker, if you will. Will have anything to after that but one of the aspects of the story i was so compelling to me was the time period. Ive written about world war ii, postworld war ii but ive never really concentrated on what happened before the war. It was a time of upheaval. Obviously people are coming into and eventually out of the Great Depression so automobile manufacturers that time were very much impacted by the so dele, who trusts maker on the verge of bankruptcy in 1932, 1933, had to make this critical decision, are we going to build trucks, utility vehicles . Going to continue with our cars that one critic said would probably best be suited for funeral procession . Or are we going to try to do Something Different . Ultimately, they decided and 33, 34 to grace again from build sports cars, which was a really dramatic leap from what they were doing. Similarly, if you find the germans, mercedes and auto union in our people at this time and trying to figure out how they can survive and what they can do so thats where hitler comes into the picture in 1933 he rises to power, he makes it kind of his mission to divide the German Automobile company and he says in his second speech that he ever gave as the leader of the third life was upper motor show 1933 and he said we are going to build the audubon, revived the Automobile Industry and im going to dominate grand prix racing. All that came about because of the economic, social, political upheaval was happening at that time. So i wouldnt be surprised that there are many reflections about today. Absolutely. Back then, the racecars there were building were hoping to display them during the races so peoplehood biases and drive them around. Today, the racecars we have are absolutely appropriate for driving any sort of street. When did that kind of break . , when did it branch out from being sort of a showcase for cars that you could purchase for being a specific sport . I think it is very true, this happened in the 20s and 30s, the different split, the i guess the best way to describe what dele did, the car company but they went to to build the grand prix racecar and what the germans did with mercedes. There were automobile companies, they decided to build a grand prix racecar but the stipulati stipulation, the head of the company was okay, well build a grand prix racecar but the engine, really every part of the car needs to be able to be suited for building a passenger vehicle we can self. To sell to the general population. That puts roadblocks for the exact kind of carton power, its much more difficult because it has that stipulation. If you look at what the germans did by contrast, german cars, whether mercedes or whatever, they were a sleek modern aluminum body design. Those cars, those engines, everything about them, there was no chance they were going to be passed. They are exquisitely built, designed and built, manufactured to the grand prix race cosmetic. They are not concerned about selling both vehicles the general populations. Their victory on the grand prix had commercial aspects to it because it was good advertising for the company. By our passenger puke vehicle but they had no other correlation to matt. They were largely built and invested in propaganda for mercedes and propaganda with the third right. So every aspect of those millions of dollars poured in to build these cars were to be the best in the world and thats exactly what they were for a long time. Especially your research, when, a question like to ask, when you are doing research, was there something you found that was so striking and an incredibly interesting fact that maybe didnt fit into this book but that may be like something you want to work into a future book or something you are just so struck by it would make its way into a book, did make its way into the book that you wish you could have . Thats a hard question. I cant think of anything really specific that i found in the research that was like i wish i could use this but i just cant, theres a story of one aspect, one part of the story, this post all these events and firstrate attire, he lived two separate lives, heres her racecar driver in the story i tell, thats his story. But after world war ii, he left the u. S. And there was a totally dramatic and incredible second part, second existence, he joined the army, he was involved in the invasion of italy, helped europe and the nazis and went back to the united states, by his grandmother, brother and sister and ends up starting probably one of the most successful french restaurants in new york city. He became the fixture on the restaurant scene and died of a new yorker. Not given maybe four sentences, five, maybe a paragraph . But you could write a whole book about that. His autobiography, his memoir is called my two lives. For exactly that reason. Racecar driver who then becomes this restaurant owner. The other part of the research that i probably couldnt get as much and as i wanted to was the remarkable story of lucy, this whole sort of generation of women in the late 20s and 30s really pioneered being part of our racing from all this sexism and just really in many ways, broke the Glass Ceiling on that. You see the Danica Patrick stuff today, but by their presence to lucy and her camaraderie of women who survive everything to do with a love, which is to racecars so again, i wont be the one doing it but if anyone is out there listening, theres a great book to be written about and i strongly recommend you do it. They were racing at the same time as the male drivers . Or whereby yes, it depended on the race. In the grand prix itself presentday language, as set dictate on what kind of car you can have, set race and season and women were not about that in the 1930s. Separately from monthtomonth does all kinds of different sports car races. There were rally phrases, the same as the races, 3000 miles from one spot to relax. As well as races like italy, there are all kinds of different races that intermix men and women. Lucy drove with her husband and almost one monte carlo three times. She also competed in all female events as well. The male racers look down on the female racers but there were, probably better rally drivers and women work. There was the same number of women driving rallies as men i think cut out a little bit there. The women were just probably better rally drivers from Long Distance drivers than the men themselves and lucy sort of proved that. Reminder for anyone watching, if you have questions, be sure to type them in the comments and i will read them. Also, the book is available for sale online from it is a perfect book for readers of history, for readers that like, come from behind sport story, the mighty ducks. Seabiscuit. So if you have any questions involving history or car racing, i know i knew very, very little about car racing before this. I probably i dont even know what i thought about car racing, its something they started in like the 60s, 70s and like america and catherine nascar happen, indianapolis, ive been there but i was a child and i dont remember anything i read on things like that. It was really, its a sport that i didnt appreciate the history of and this book does a really good job on that person really likes to read micro history that i can appreciate and enjoy. I really wasnt a car guy before i started this and in many ways, im a cliche but the car was just kind of a vehicle of these stories of these individuals like renee and lucy as well as the german driver who was sort of the nemesis, who was drawn into representing the third right, reluctantly but ultimately did so and this conflict became the day, it fascinated me. In many ways, its no different than if you think of stories about bombers and world war ii, but the individuals in from of writing and the freedom of europe and a car is sort of the same way in many ways. I had a question. [laughter] honestly, how reluctant you think you are . I know you said that in the text is kind of demonstrated but in a lot of ways, i kind of the more i read about nazis history and people turning a blind eye and ignoring certain aspects of the party and what they dont want to see but in a lot of ways, even women were ignoring and they still were supported and still very much in favor of part of the mission so whether or not they were fully complacent, which many maybe once but how many personally support him . I know that he was very involved how much do you think he was involved . The way to answer is to sort of attract his story, he won his grand prix race in 1926, heres a huge celebrity, top driver after me, by 1932, 33, he knew the party not a member of it at that time but then because of the Great Depression, a lot of Car Companies were abandoning grand prix racing including mercedes so by 1933, early 34, he had a terrible car accident that was kind of crippling and just lost his wife an accident and the only thing left in his life was racing and getting back into racing and with the rise of hitler is investment grand prix racing, the opportunity presented was, during the nazis party, become representative of us were never race again. I think the intricate question was not even a reluctant one, even though he didnt believe in the ideology or even necessari necessarily, definitely not antisemitism even but i dont think he hesitated. I think he joined i know he joined straightaway, he did everything he could to get back into shape because racing was his life. So he was willing to do whatever it took. That was the ideology. If it meant he could race again. Im not apologizing in any way for rudy because its very clear by 1936, 37, germans announced grand prix every single year, rudy was top of the mercedes team, he is a hero of the right, hes celebrated as such. He meets with hitler, propaganda, rights on the editorial piece and nothing about him, mark my people knew him, etc. Still did not subscribe to ideology, he didnt much care or like hitler but was willing to do whatever it took. So its a complicated story in a complicated individual but i think he ultimately sacrificed his soul for racing. Similarly, lucy and unforgiving charles, renee . Renick. They also were doing anything so yes, you can definitely see the good versus evil play out but similarly, they were very much willing to race, drive. So you can definitely see that in their stories as well. A new they knew, he and his fellow members on the team, they knew what hitler was doing. Even before the war, they knew torture, imprisonment of jewish people, germany and yet, they were still willing to be representative of the country so rudy didnt even live in germa germany, he lived in richland. He could easily walk away but he didnt. Like you said, for renee, lucy, rudy, there was something about the life of racing that so much in their blood that they couldnt abandonment. Both rudy and renee both write and speak about how nothing else in life, never ever felt really comfortable in the world for peace in the world except when they were driving. When they were racing. Like, for them, that was the highlight of their life, the best times, the best moments. That sort of clarity and purpose, clarity of mind, that feeling of being in a race car, i was everything to them. They were willing to die for it so for rudys sake, he was willing to compromise. Tim donahue says the book is fantastic. Your best though i am partial to higher . I was hoping there was a question but thank you. Higher was my first book. Ive done higher, faster and now im not sure if im doing long longer. [laughter] stronger . Stronger probably not. Have you started working on your next book . I have. Most of my books