The Race to the Future

The Adventure That Accelerated the Twentieth Century

De: Kassia St Clair

Narrado por: Kassia St Clair

The story of the world's most epic race you have never heard of.

10 June 1907, Peking. Five cars set off in a desperate race across two continents on the verge of revolution.

An Italian prince and his chauffeur, a French racing driver, a conman and various journalists battle over steep mountain ranges and across the arid vastness of the Gobi Desert. The contestants need teams of helpers to drag their primitive cars up narrow gorges, lift them over rough terrain and float them across rivers. Petrol is almost impossible to find, there are barely any roads, armed bandits and wolves lurk in the forests. Updates on their progress, sent by telegram, are eagerly devoured by millions in one of the first ever global news stories. Their destination: Paris.

More than its many adventures, the Peking-to-Paris provided the impetus for profound change. The world of 1907 is poised between the old and the new: communist regimes will replace imperial ones in China and Russia; the telegraph is transforming modern communication and the car will soon displace the horse. In this book bestselling author Kassia St Clair traces the fascinating stories of two interlocking races - setting the derring-do (and sometimes cheating) of one of the world's first car races against the backdrop of a larger geopolitical and technological rush to the future, as the rivalry grows between countries and empires, building up to the cataclysmic event that changed everything - the First World War.

The Race to the Future is the incredible true story of the quest against the odds that shaped the world we live in today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Kassia St Clair (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Such a missed opportunity

When I first read the outline for this story I imagined an adventurous tale of daredevil racers pitting their skills against one another in a race against time itself as the politics of an impending war loomed large. Instead it reads as a very pedestrian account peppered with dull facts as if the writer is presenting a thesis. Too bad, for as an idea it offers fantastic possibilities!