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The Story of the Tour de France Volume 1: 1903 - 1964 |  | Authors: Bill McGann, Carol McGann
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 26224
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
ASIN: B001DR3WUY
Publication Date: July 25, 2006
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 Wealth of Information, Poorly Edited May 22, 2010
The Bear (southwestern Illinois)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book needs a good editor. It contains lots of facts, but the editing is poor. There were a variety of reasons that this book was hard to read. There were some basic problems with the use of numbers: "he won the next 2 stages" as opposed to "he won the next two stages". The book was laid out along a very strict time line, with little chance to understand the personalities of the riders. There were also small editorial comments thrown in along the way that only distracted the reader and did nothing to add to the story.
I do not want to be totally negative. The book seemed to be well-researched, maybe the best English-language history available. However, I would urge the publisher to re-work the narratives significantly prior to the release of the next edition. I would have enjoyed a more readable book.
 A Great Read October 20, 2009
James L. Witherell, Author, Bicycle History
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can't say how much I enjoyed reading the Mcgann's book. I think someone else called it a labor of love, and it shows. All the information you need to know is there without a lot of time-wasting filler. The book is well researched and the facts are accurate. Any observations the authors make only add to your enjoyment and understanding of the Tour de France and the motivations of the people taking part in it, which is not always an easy task. The authors keep you up to date with what's happening with the main contenders, so you don't need a program to keep up with all the players. Bravo!
Very badly written March 4, 2009
turkle (cape town, south africa)
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
I really, really wanted to love this book. I'm fascinated by the TdF and cycling history in general. But The Story of the Tour de France Vol 1 is so badly written that I really had to work at it to finish.
Yes, the information is great. Yes, it's brilliant that the authors attempt to place the story of each Tour in the context of the history and social events of the time. Yes, it's obvious they know their stuff. But clunky wording that manages to unintentionally place author Les Woodland at the original meeting where the Tour was first mooted and awkward conflation of the Dreyfuss Affair with garbled comment on current world events are just two examples early on in this book of how messy a read it is.
Perhaps part of the problem is that it's geared largely towards an American audience, which could account for the over-explanation of the drama to an audience that may think the race only began when Lance Armstrong arrived on the scene.
Another bugbear is the overall physical quality of the book, which just feels cheaply put together and is far too floppy in the hand for its size. I wasn't expecting a coffee table book with glossy pictures, but as paperbacks go, this is rather shoddy.
I admire what the authors set out to achieve with this book, I'm just very disappointed with the execution. It feels like a self-published job. And the glowing praise it has received from other cycling writers/friends just feels a bit too chummy as well. I'm also at a loss to know why Carol McGann is credited as a co-author, but then completely ignored in the effusive praise that is all directed at Bill by his mates - okay, hardly a big deal but when the rest of the book left me wanting more, it was just another irritation in a long line.
An excellent reference for the TdF aficionado December 12, 2008
Thomas A. Tannehill
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Having followed the Tour de France for 25 years and read as much as I could about the event and its participants, I thoroughly enjoyed the McGann's in-depth study of the Tour from 1903 to 1964. McGann includes personal accounts by the racers and officials making each tour come alive. Each race is picked apart and analyzed as to who won and lost and why. If you like this type of thorough-ness, I whole-heartedly recommend the McGann's "The Story of the Tour de France."
Bringing the Tour de France to life February 11, 2008
Jon A. Bishop (Madison, WI USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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