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. [a:Andy Bull|259319|Andy Bull|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] 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. ( )

Very informative. But this book didn't grab me like a well-written non-fiction work should. It was just too text book for me. The subject matter was great. I feel the author missed the bobsled on this one. ( )

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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. ( )

There is a lot of detail packed into this book. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, i did, but I think this is a case where less might have been more. Nevertheless if you have an interest in the evolution of sports, the winter olympics, or history this book is worth your time. ( )

Adrenalin. Risk takers. Dare devils. Speed junkies. Some people are just built to pursue thrills. They thrill to the feeling of air whistling past their faces and sights flashing in their peripheral vision too fast to make out. Others of us are content to watch these people hurtle down hills and around curves, or better yet to find them in the pages of a book. Andy Bull's book, Speed Kings, about the men who would come to represent the US in bobsled at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid gives readers a chance to live vicariously through these "fastest men in the world."

Bull combines part history of the sport of "bobbing," part biography of several team members, and part story of how the Olympics came to Lake Placid in 1932 in this sporting tale. Although the team was comprised of four men, the focus here is on Billy Fiske, a young, wealthy boy who was the embodiment of speed and competition and in fact the central figure, the heart and soul, of the team. In fact, the story opens with Fiske's daring and unlikely landing of a crippled fighter plane in Britain during WWII and his resultant death. After setting the stage with Billy's heroic death and a brief chapter centered on the teenager's life and lifelong attraction to speed, the tale moves backwards to cover the roots of the sport of bobsledding in St. Moritz, the winter playground of the rich. Starting as a tourist event open to all that quickly became too dangerous for any but the most reckless, bobsledding was a risky, adrenaline-filled sport that drew high society and thrilled crowds. As it grew in notoriety, it required more and more skill to drive a bob, eventually leading this exciting and novel sport to be added into the line-up of the fledgling Winter Olympics.

The story, while focused more on Billy Fiske than on his other teammates, does look at the interestingly disparate backgrounds of the four men who would eventually bob for the US in 1932: Tippy Gray, Eddie Eagan, Jay O'Brien, and of course, Billy Fiske. Each man had a very different road to the Olympic team and Bull looks at their lives and how they either fell into or chose the sport that caught the public's imagination. In addition to the history of the sport and the lives of the men, Bull also focuses on the almost failed attempt to bring the Olympics to the small town of Lake Placid, the man behind the effort, and the personality conflicts and financial crises that plagued the whole endeavor.

Bull has done a lot of research but sometimes the narrative is overwhelmed by the information he shares and his choices about what to elaborate on and what to skim superficially didn't always feel the right way round. It is so wide-ranging and detailed that it doesn't always maintain an even narrative tension and feels very choppy. The story is quite long and drawn out in the run up to the Olympics and the late addition of some of the very important people is a bit disconcerting. But as a piece that paints a picture of a time period with the decadence of the Roaring Twenties giving way to the austerity and loss of the Great Depression as the world faced an uncertain future with possible war looming again, he does a good job. Despite the flaws in the narrative, that a small town in upstate New York would step in, when bigger donors balked, and give money, even in the depths of the Great Depression, to bring the Olympics to their town, that the public would so fully embrace the new sport of bobsledding, and that an American team, a long shot by now, would overcome dramatically warm weather conditions to capture the gold makes this a tale worth telling. ( )