This book is designed to be read as a companion, a book that can go in the car or on a ‘plane, and which can be read in full, or dipped into anywhere for a classic car fix. Old stories and new details are presented and cover all eras of our cars. Gathered here is a compilation of the author’s published and unpublished adventures and opinions about the design and the driving of some of the greatest cars in motoring history. From ‘vintagent’ to ‘modern classic’, pristine to oily-rag, up hill, down dale and across continents, award-winning motoring author, designer and serial classic car owner, Lance Cole, charts the great classic car enthusiasm in a series of engaging essays about cars, car design and the men that made the motor industry.

As reviewed by Classic Car Weekly: ‘Lance Cole is best known in motoring writing circles as a Saab enthusiast, so it is no surprise that a striking image of the UrSaab – the very first car built by the marque – is on the front cover of his new book. This collection of articles is about driving, design, in fact, pretty much anything about older cars from vintage to modern classics. You might not agree with all his opinions, but the text is witty, engaging, authoritative and comprehensive throughout. Buy it for the essays on the vehicles you know about, and learn much from the chapters on those that you don’t. Highly recommended.’

In Dark Days of Georgian Britain, James Hobson challenges the long established view of high society during the Regency, and instead details an account of a society in change. Often upheld as a period of elegance with many achievements in the fine arts and architecture, the Regency era also encompassed a time of great social, political and economic upheaval. In this insightful social history the emphasis is on the life of the every-man, on the lives of the poor and the challenges they faced.

Using a wide range of sources, Hobson shares the stories of real people. He explores corruption in government and elections; “bread or blood” rioting, the political discontent felt and the revolutionaries involved. He explores attitudes to adultery and marriage, and the moral panic about homosexuality. Grave robbery is exposed, along with the sharp pinch of food scarcity, prison and punishment. It is not a gentle portrayal akin to Jane Austen’s England, this is a society where the popular hatred of the Prince Regent was widespread and where laws and new capitalist attitudes oppressed the poor. With Hobson’s illustrative account, it is time to rethink the Regency.

Read the author’s latest blog post via about1816.wordpress.com.