Modern British History

    

   Several year ago I bought a British friend the first book in what was to be a series of them about the recent history of Britain. It was well-reviewed and widely-praised. Over the years since then I have always been confused whenever I went back to check on the progress of the subsequent publications. Chances are you are as well. Given that all of the titles thus produced have received glowing reviews, I will offer this short bibliographic note along with some snippets of sample reviews.

   Tales of a New Jerusalem is the title of the series. The author is David Kynaston.  I have in front of me the first volume which is: Austerity Britain: 1945-51. The first sentence of the preface indicates that: "Austerity Britain comprises A World to Build and Smoke in the Valley - the first two books of Tales of a New Jerusalem." So, you can buy one fat copy of Austerity Britain: 1945-51 or two slimmer copies: A World to Build: 1945-48 and Smoke in the Valley: 1948-51.

  I also have the second volume which is: Family Britain: 1951-57. Like the first volume, this one is fat and is divided into two parts: The Certainties of  Place and A Thicker Cut. It does not appear that they have been published as separate books.

   The third volume is: Modernity Britain: 1957 - 62. It too is plump and was divided into two titles: Modernity Britain: Opening the Box, 1957-59 and Modernity Britain: A Shake of the Dice, 1959-62. I do not have a copy in front of me since the library that provided the other two has not yet purchased the third one, probably because the collections librarian is also confused. Apparently the next volume is to be Opportunity Britain.

   Kynaston is attempting to tell the story of the period from 1945 to 1979, "A story of ordinary citizens as well as ministers and mandarins, of consumers as well as producers, of the provinces as well as London, of the everyday as well as the seismic, of the mute and inarticulate as well as the all too fluent opinion-formers, of the Singing Postman as well as John Lennon. It is a history that does not pursue the chimera of being 'definitive'; it does try to offer and intimate, multilayered, multivoiced, unsentimental portrait of a society that evolved in such a way during these 34 years as to make in possible for the certainties of '1945' to become the counter-certainties of '1979'". From what I have sampled and from the reviews it is safe to say you will find the story to be an entertaining one.
 
   Philip Hensher begins his review of Family Britain: 1951-1957 this way:
"Not every writer would begin a history of the 1950s with a vignette in which the young Keith Waterhouse treads on Princess Margaret by mistake. But, David Kynaston is an unusual historian, rewardingly imbued with a sense of fun and convinced of the importance of the freakish; he is enamoured of the single incident and the obscure observer."
He concludes:
"I could quote forever from this magnificent book. Professor Kynaston is the most entertaining historian alive, and his Tales of A New Jerusalem, when concluded, will undoubtedly be the first stop for any reader interested in the vitality, rather than the general contours, of this long period." 
The Spectator, Oct. 24, 2009, p.40.

Sources: 
   The books are published by Bloomsbury. 

  " Forties Pain, Fifties gain: David Kynaston Brilliantly Captures a Postwar Nation Looking Forward to Better Times: Austerity Britain 1945-51, David Kynaston, Brian Thompson, The Observer, May 20, 2007.
"DAVID KYNASTON'S Austerity Britain begins on VE Day and ends more than 600 pages later with the 1951 FA Cup Final between Newcastle United and Blackpool. (A topical note here to Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba: the players were paid less on the day than the bandsmen of the Coldstream Guards. Newcastle's Jackie Milburn scored - twice - for a pounds 12 match fee.)
This wonderful volume is only the first in a series that will take us to 1979 and the election of Margaret Thatcher. When complete, Kynaston's skill in mixing eyewitness accounts and political analysis will surely be one of the greatest and most enduring publishing ventures for generations."

  " BOOKS OF THE TIMES; In Postwar Britain, The Grim Face of Victory, Barry Gewen, The New York Times, June 12, 2008.
"The historian David Kynaston's ''Austerity Britain: 1945-1951'' seems less a book than a scroll. You don't feel that you're turning pages so much as unrolling a single piece of parchment, with facts, figures and, most of all, people moving by in grand procession. There go Churchill, Keynes and other leading politicians and policymakers, also Kingsley Amis, Graham Greene, Isaiah Berlin, J. R. R. Tolkien, a dashing Dirk Bogarde, a young Bill Wyman, as well as dozens of unknowns who happened to keep a diary or utter an especially piquant remark."

   "Austerity Britain 1945-51," Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times, June 1, 2007.
"Austerity Britain is stream-of-consciousness history, using not only the evidence of the Gallup polls, but also the more impressionistic surveys of Mass Observation, and of observers such as George Orwell, to build a picture of the period. The result is a glorious bran-tub of a book which, if it does not offer any startlingly new interpretations, is full of miscellaneous information about the postwar habits of the British people. In contrast to its drab subject, it is written with a wit and sparkle that make it a pleasure to read."

   "Immersive History," John Williams, The New York Times, Jan. 25, 2015.
"David Kynaston’s “Modernity Britain,” reviewed this week by Richard Aldous, is the third volume of a planned series covering British history from 1945 to 1979.
Kynaston’s method of recapturing the past includes quoting from the diaries and letters of average citizens. In a 2008 interview, he said some diaries were rendered useless because the script was “so microscopic . . . I simply couldn’t read it.”
Writing in The Times in the same year, Barry Gewen, an editor at the Book Review, called “Austerity Britain,” the first in the series, “an engrossing, kaleidoscopic portrait of a people from a particular time and place. This is history as total immersion.”
One of Kynaston’s biggest fans is Benjamin Schwarz, the former literary editor of The Atlantic. Reviewing “Family Britain,” the second volume, for The Atlantic, Schwarz wrote, “More vividly and profoundly than any other historical work” he had read, Kynaston’s project “captures the rhythms and texture of everyday life and the collective experience of a nation.” He suggested that “anyone with a historical or sociological imagination and anyone attuned to the interplay of public and domestic life should read these books.”

  "Modernity Britain: Opening the Box, 1957-59', Roger Morgan, The Times Higher Education Supplement, Aug.8, 2013.

"There are in fact two David Kynastons. One is the relatively conventional historian who has given us solid and illuminating accounts of the City of London, the Bank of England, the Financial Times and much else. The other is the venturesome innovator engaged in cutting up the rich history of post-war Britain into quite thin slices, and retailing news stories and contemporary comments, often on a day-by-day basis, to give a vivid flashback into how things were, and were felt, at the time."

The Rivers of America Book Series

[One in a River Series which discusses rivers as the were, not as they now are.]

   If you want to read about rivers, the Rivers of America Series is a good place to start. There are over 60 books in the series and the rivers contained in them flow throughout the Americas from the Chagres in Panama to the Yukon in the far north. Books about rivers can vary in content, considering what is under the water or what floats on top, and they can ramble along the banks where regional memories are stored. In this series the books do differ greatly because the authors are different in that they are not historians, but literary types such as Edgar Lee Masters and James Branch Cabell who wrote two of the books listed below.
   The Rivers of America Series began publication in 1937 and continued until 1974 and you have 65 books to choose from. That the series exists and we know so much about it, depends upon the efforts of two women. Constance Lindsay Skinner conceived of the series and edited the first six volumes. Her interest in rivers may have to do with the fact that she was born at the confluence of two of them - the Quesnel and the Fraser in Cariboo country.  Many years later and all the way across the Americas, Carol Fitzgerald read one of the books and became interested in the Series, about which there was little information. There now is, thanks to her two volume annotated bibliography: The Rivers of America; a Descriptive Bibliography including Biographies of the Authors, Illustrators, and Editors, Oak Knoll Press [and] Washington, D.C.: Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, 2001).
   A list of the titles in the series, published by year is found in the Wikipedia entry for Rivers of America Series. Additional sources about the series, and Skinner and Fitzgerald, are provided below the alphabetical list of titles presented here. At least two university libraries have highlighted the Rivers of America Series in their publications (noted below in the sources). This list indicates which titles in the series are currently available in the libraries at Western University. Entries in red indicate that Western (WL) has a copy. [This search was performed in January 2020. Many of the books are in storage and may be, at some point, shipped elsewhere or discarded. For accurate information consult with a staff member in the Western Libraries.]
 

The Allagash, Lew Dietz, 1968.
The Allegheny, Frederick Way, (WL in storage)
New York, Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [1942].
The American; River of El Dorado, Margaret Sanborn, (WL in storage)
New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [1974]
The Arkansas, Clyd Brion Davis, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, 1940.
The Brandywine, Henry Seidel Canby, (WL in storage)
Toronto : Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [c1941]
The Chagres; River of Westward Passage, John E. Minter, 1948              The Cape Fear, Malcolm H. Ross, 1965.
The Charles, Arthur Benson Tourtellot, 1941.
The Chicago, Harry Hanson, 1942.
The Colorado, Frank Waters, (WL in storage)
Toronto : Rinehart & Co., [1946].
The Columbia, Stewart H. Holbrook, (WL in stacks)
New York, Rinehart, [1956].
The Connecticut, Walter Hard, 1946
The Cumberland, James McCague, 1973.
The Cuyahoga, William Donohue Ellis, 1966.
The Delaware, Harry Emerson Wildes, (WL in storage)
Toronto : Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [c1940
The Everglades; River of Grass, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, 1947.
The Fraser, Bruce Hutchison, (WL copy in storage and at King's)
New York, Rinehart [1950]
The French Broad, Wilma Dykeman, (WL copy in storage)
New York. Rinehart, 1955.
The Gila; River of the Southwest, Edwin Corle, (WL copy in storage)
University of Nebraska Press, reprint. c1951
The Genesee, Henry Clune, (WL copy in storage)
Syracuse University Press, 1988. reprint.
The Great River...Paul Horgan, (WL in storage)
New York, Rinehart, 1954.
The Hillsborough: River of the Golden Ibis, Gloria Jahoda, 1973.
The Housatonic; Puritan River, Chard Powers Smith, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto : Rinehart & company, incorporated, [1946]
The Hudson, Carl Carmer, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart incorporated [c1939]
The Humboldt; Highroad of the West, Dale L. Morgan, (WL copy in storage)
Freeport, N.Y. Books for Libraries Press, 1971, - reprint.
The Illinois, James Gray, (WL copies in storage and in stacks)
Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [c1940]
The James, Blair Niles, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated [c1939]
The James; From Iron Gate to the Sea [revised ed.]



The Kaw; The Heart of a Nation, Floyd B. Streeter, (WL copy in storage)
New York : Arno Press, 1975, c1941 - reprint.
Kennebec; Cradle of the Americans,  Robert P. Tristram Coffin, 1937.
The Kentucky, Thomas D. Clark, 1941.
Lower Mississippi, Hodding Carter, 1942.
The Mackenzie, Leslie Roberts, (WL copy at Huron)
Toronto : Rinehart, c1949.

The Merrimack, Raymond P. Holden, 1958.

The Minnesota; Forgotten River, Evan Jones, 1962.

The Missouri, Stanley Vestal, 1945

The Mohawk, Codman Hislop, 1948

The Monongahela, Richard Bissell, 1952.

The Niagara, Donald Braider, (WL copy in stacks)                                      New York, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston [1972]
The Ohio, R.E. Banta, 1949.
The Potomac, Frederick Gutheim, 1949                                                   Powder River; Let 'er Buck, Maxwell S. Burt, (WL copy in storage)

Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [c1938]

Rivers of the Eastern Shore; Seventeen Maryland Rivers, H. Footner, 1944

River of the Carolinas; The Santee, Henry Savage, 1956.

The Sacramento; River of Gold, Julian Dana, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated [c1939].

The Salinas; Upside-down River, Anne B. Fisher, 1945

Salt Rivers of the Massachusetts Shore, Henry Howe, 1951.

The Sangamon, Edward Lee Masters, (WL copy in storage)
N.Y. Farrar & Rinehart, 1942.

The Saskatchewan, Marjorie Wilkins Campbell, (WL copy in storage and at King's)
New York : Rinehart, c1950

The Savannah, Thomas Lunsford Stokes, (WL  2 copies in storage)
Literary Guild of America, c1938.
Athens : University of Georgia Press, 1982 - reprint  c.1951

The Shenandoah, Julia Davis, 1945

Songs of the Rivers of America, Carl Carmer, 1942

The St. Croix; Midwest Border River, James Taylor Dunn, (WL in storage)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [1965, 1966]

The St. Johns; A Parade of Diversities, James Branch Cabell, (WL in storage)
New York, Rinehart [1960, c1943]

The St. Lawrence, Henry Beston, (WL copy in stacks, storage and at King's)
Toronto, Farrar& Rinehart, incorporated [1942]

The Susquehanna, Carl Carmer, 1955.

Suwannee River; Strange Green Land, Cecile Hulse Matschat, (WL copy in storage)
Athens : University of Georgia Press, [1980] c1938 - reprint

The Tennessee; Volume I: The Old River, Frontier to Secession, Donald Davidson,
WL copy in storage, Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, [1978] c1946. reprint

The Tennessee; Volume II: Civil War to TVA

Twin Rivers; The Raritan and the Passaic, Harry Emerson Wildes, 1943

Upper Mississippi; A Wilderness Saga, Walter Havighurst, 1938.

Upper Mississippi; A Wilderness Saga. [revised]
The Wabash, William Edward Wilson, (WL copy in storage)
Toronto : Farrar & Rinehart, incorporated, [c1940]                                      The Winooski; Heartway of Vermont, Ralph Nading Hill, 1949

The Wisconsin; River of a Thousand Isles, August Derleth, 1942.

The Yazoo River, Frank E. Smith, 1954.

The Yukon, Richard Matthews, (WL copy in storage)
New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [c1968].

Sources:
   The Fitzgerald volumes are not widely found and are rather expensive to purchase.
    For a good account of the series see the guest blog by Fitzgerald found in "Rivers of America at 75 Years," by Nate Pederson, Fine Books & Collections, June 12, 2012. For a fine report about Fitzgerald and her efforts see: Nicholas Basbanes, "An American Rivers Saga," A Splendor of Letters, Vol.2, No.7, July 1997. (I found the very good Basbane's piece in the Internet Archive, but was unable to attach the link). See also The Library of Congress Information Bulletin, June 9, 1997.
   To buy the books go directly to Town's End Books and Bindery which specializes in them and is suitably located in Deep River, CT.
   Constance Lindsay Skinner has a Wikipedia entry and one in the Canadian Encyclopedia and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. For a biography see Barman's Constance Lindsay Skinner: Writing on the Frontier. 
    The Lovejoy Library at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, offers interesting essays about Skinner, the mapmakers, the illustrators and some of the authors of the series as well as sound clips for some river songs. Most are written by Matthew Paris and if the link doesn't work go to the website of the Lovejoy Library and search for him or the series.
   The Charles C. Myers Library at the University of Dubuque received a donation of the collection and Joel Samuels provides a Chronological Bibliography of Rivers of America Series.
   For a piece about the importance of Skinner's work and the Series to environmental historians see:
Nicolaas Mink, "A Narrative for Nature's Nation: Constance Lindsay Skinner and the Making of Rivers of America, Environmental History, Vol.11, No.4, 2006, pp.751-774.

Post Script:
   I became aware of the Rivers of America Series while doing some research on Hulbert Footner who was born in Hamilton, Ontario. He is primarily known as a writer of detective stories. His Rivers of the Eastern Shore is different from most other titles in the series in that he writes about 17 of them. One is the Manokin which flowed under a very small bridge at the bottom of a very short hill in my home town of Princess Anne, MD.

Bruce McCall

Simcoe Boy

   I gather that The New Yorker cover pictured above will appear next week and it will be the latest one done by Bruce McCall who grew up a few miles from London. I subscribe to a few print publications, The New Yorker among them, and they all send me emails which often contain content not to be found in the actual publication. Given that the next New Yorker may have a McCall cover without any information about him, I will provide some below. Although I wrote briefly about him in my post about Canadian Cartoonists, he should be more widely known north of the U.S. border. 

   That he isn't more popular here may be because he is an expatriate and because he was rather critical of the blandness of Ontario in his early biographical work, Thin Ice, which was described by Graydon Carter as "a funny and sentimentally tragic little memoir of a tortured Ontario boyhood". Or perhaps it is because many people do not appreciate the kind of humour produced by comedians like David Letterman (with whom McCall wrote a book) or Steve Martin (who regards McCall as a 'God'), or books with titles like All Meat Looks Like South America. 

   I read Thin Ice a few years ago and enjoyed it. I now know that it was also made into a National Film Board documentary and I look forward to viewing it. I also look forward to his new work which is due out about a year from now and is tentatively titled: How Did I Get Here: A Memoir. Apart from the recent reference, I will provide a few other excerpts from reviews that should entice you to have a look at his books.

   

Sources: Bruce McCall's "A Brush With Greatness," Francoise Mouly,  The New Yorker, Jan. 6, 2020 [in a New Yorker email].
"Bruce McCall, now eighty-four, has been contributing comic prose and covers to The New Yorker for forty years. Many of those covers have a retro-futuristic style, but his latest takes place in the present, with three museum painters pausing to take in the view. McCall recently talked to us about his own favorite museum, along with some of the ways his writing differs from his illustration."

This short profile is currently available on The New Yorker website:
"Bruce McCall has contributed covers and humor pieces to The New Yorker since 1980. He has painted more than seventy-five New Yorker covers and contributed more than eighty pieces for Shouts & Murmurs. McCall previously pursued careers in commercial art, automotive journalism, and advertising. He has published several books, including “Zany Afternoons,” “All Meat Looks Like South America,” and “The Last Dream-O-Rama,” and also a memoir about growing up Canadian, called “Thin Ice.” His latest book,[2013] in collaboration with David Letterman, is “This Land Was Made for You and Me (But Mostly Me).”

Here is the "Ironing Board Building, 1897" from Zany Afternoons. 


   Robert Fulford who, like McCall, dropped out of Malvern Collegiate, wrote an admiring piece in The National Post back in Sept. 26, 2000 from which this is taken:
"When Thin Ice appeared, reviewers focused on McCall's dislike of Canada: "I had been a failure as a Canadian ... The patience, the mildness, the taste for conformity that seemed prerequisites for a tolerable life were beyond me." But in the book his disappointment with his native land means far less than his profoundly unhappy family life. He was one of six children of T.C. McCall, a Simcoe, Ont., newspaperman who became deputy minister of travel and publicity for Ontario and then a Chrysler public relations man. T.C. (his family as well as friends called him that) was an absentee father, either literally out of town or emotionally unreachable; his wife, Peg, was a sad, defeated alcoholic with no talent for mothering."

   In "They Shoot, McCall Scores," by Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail, Jan. 18, 2001 Houpt notes:
"When Thin Ice, the memoir of expatriate Canadian humorist Bruce McCall, was published in 1997, it was subtitled Coming of Age in Canada. In the new National Film Board of Canada documentary based on the biting autobiography, however, McCall reveals that the U.S. publishers requested one minor change for the book's subsequent paperback publication. "They said, 'You gotta get rid of the word 'Canada' in the title, because it's death on the bookshelves,' " McCall tells his friend Steve Martin in one scene. "I had to change it to Saved by the American Dream, which makes me a total sellout, doesn't it?"
   The article concludes with a line from McCall which he spoke in the movie version of Thin Ice: "There's still a great residual part of me that never crossed the border," says McCall. "Part of me is still back in Simcoe. Maybe the best part of me."

Post Script: 
   Steve Martin was spotted here in London a while back. He is also an admirer of the Group of Seven and he recently put up for auction Lawren Harris's Mountain Sketch LXX, which is expected to "fetch between $300,000 and $500,000." Canadian Press, Oct. 2, 2019. Here is a picture of it if you are interested.

Mr. Richard Ivey

---

   Mr. Ivey was a well-known and respected philanthropist who passed away recently. The entire family was, and still is generous and Mrs. Beryl Ivey was also known for her charitable endeavours. The garden behind her in the picture below is near University College at Western University and is named after her as is the library at Brescia University.

   Mrs. Ivey passed away in 2007. At that time, the short notice below was published in a newsletter produced by the staff at the C.B. "Bud" Johnson Library in the Ivey Business School. It is no longer available, so I thought it should be provided here along with some other sources.

The Passing of Mrs. Beryl Ivey

A memorial service was held for Mrs. Ivey in London on January 11, 2008. While those of us who have been in London for a while certainly know about the Iveys, new students from elsewhere may not. If you would like to learn more about Mrs. Ivey, the Ivey family and their business and philanthropic activities we suggest you consult Frederick Armstrong’s ,The Iveys of London: An Entrepreneurial and Philanthropic Family.  As well, we present below for your convenience some of the related obituaries and tributes that appeared in the newspapers. Of course, both the Ivey and Western web sites contain additional information.

“Hers Was a Remarkable Life,” Ian Gillespie, London Free Press, Jan.12, 2007, p.A3.

“Beryl Ivey Remembered as 'a Great Canadian,”
Guelph Mercury, 27 December 2007.

“Philanthropist Supported Arts, Health, Education; Praise Pours in for 'Foremost Benefactor' of Western University,” The Toronto Star, 26 December 2007.

“Benefactor Beryl Ivey Dead at 82”
The Globe and Mail, 26 December 2007

“London Free Press”
The Canadian Press, 22:09, 25 December 2007, 682 words, (English)
This obituary is authored by Patrick Maloney and Claire Neary

“Governor General announces 71 appointments to Order of Canada,"
The Canadian Press, 15:13, 29 June 2007, 346 words, (English)
Mrs Ivey is among them.

Sources:

   The obituary for Mrs. Ivey was published in The Bottom Feeder in January, 2008. I was responsible for it and for the information below. Any errors are mine alone.

   An obituary for Mr. Richard Ivey is found in The London Free Press, Dec. 31, 2019.

See also: "London Business Leader and Philanthropist Richard Ivey Dies at 94," Dan Brown, The London Free Press, Dec. 30, 2019. 

"Wonderful Human Being': Londoners React to Death of Philanthropist Richard Ivey at 94: 'He was a true gentleman, and you took him at his word. With him it was not even a handshake, it was his word. There was great trust in the man'", The London Free Press, Jan.2, 2020.

Post Script:

   Apart from supporting universities and hospitals, the Ivey family also funded environmental projects. The folks at Nature London provided this note in their recent newsletter. 

"Richard Ivey, Friend of Nature

 Richard Ivey passed away recently at the age of 94.  In London, southwestern Ontario, Canada and beyond, the Ivey family and Richard have been a great influence for the protection and enjoyment of nature and a healthy environment.  Richard encouraged wise policies and supported groups like Ontario Nature, Nature London and the Thames Talbot Land Trust as they struggled to protect nature in our region.  In doing so Richard left us natural assets and organizations of great lasting value."

Racing Across America

   On-Demand Films (in theatres)

   Before I get to the interesting part about racing across America (more specifically the portion occupied by the United States), here is a brief introductory aside which is also interesting.
   In the city of London we have a fair number of cinemas and a much larger number of screens, most of which are showing the same movie for kids. Right now we are fortunate that the few remaining ones are playing Cats or Frozen II.
   One theatre that is not like the others is The Hyland which is located about a block from our house. It shows foreign films (I guess most films in Canada are ‘foreign’) and even movies for adults (but, not Adult Movies, let me be clear). They on occasion also have films that  appeal to hardly anyone, but which have been requested by small audiences which, in the aggregate, become large ones.
    The concept is a new one and it needs a better descriptor then 'On-Demand'. It has been described as “like an ‘Airbnb for cinemas", but that doesn’t help much either.  'Event Cinema’ is another term that is sometimes used (I will provide sources below). Basically if you and your small group of philatelist buddies find a good documentary about stamp collectors you can request to have it shown. A  company (an Australian one) will take care of the rest; the theatre will host it and if enough people show an interest, all you have to do is buy some popcorn and enjoy the movie. Right now, for example, How To Bee (about a beekeeper) is being offered and you can request Scotch: A Golden Dream. You can also request the documentary, The Rise of Jordan Peterson, but I suggest you don’t since there are many who think his ideas should not be displayed  and there have been boycotts. I have seen two such films. One was Dawn Wall (about climbing) and the other was Four by 3000: A Journey Through the Toughest Bike Race in the World which is about racing across America on bikes.

Racing Across American On Bicycles

   The film Four by 3000 is what led to this post. It is a documentary about a relay team of four men who cycled non-stop from a pier in Oceanside, California to a dock in Annapolis, Maryland. They were participating in the Race Across America (RAAM) which has been held since 1982. There are solo participants as well as relay teams of 2, 4 or 8 people. Unlike the Tour de France, RAAM is a one stage race. That is, the button on a timer is pushed at the start on the shore of the Pacific and again only when one reaches the shore of the Chesapeake. Although cycling long uphill or flat stretches can be tedious for both the cyclist and the spectator, Four by 3000 is quite good. You can learn more about the film and see a trailer for it by consulting some of the sources provided. 

   How long does it take to cycle across the country? 

   The record times vary depending upon such things as the weather encountered and the route taken. A single man has completed the race in seven days and an eight man team did so in just over five. Here are some statistics:

Solo Man - 7:15: 56 - Average Speed 16.42 (mph) (26.43 km/h) for 3020 miles (4860.2 km/h)

Solo Woman 9:04: 02 - Average Speed 13.23 covering 2912 miles.

2-Person 6:10:08

4-Person 5:08:17

8-Person 5:03:43

RAAM begins again on June 16.

Racing Across America By Car

HOW QUICKLY CAN ONE DRIVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY? 

   The answer is provided above from the screen of the Garmin device which recorded the event. The car left a garage in Manhattan and arrived at a hotel in Redondo Beach 27 hours and 25 minutes later. 2825 miles were travelled (4546k) at an average speed of 103(mph) (165kph) and the top speed reached was 193mph or about 310 kph. During that time the car was stopped for only 22 minutes.

  Such an event was done illegally, of course, and clandestinely as it alway is. The car is typically modified to look like a very plain one. For this event:

"The car was further modified inside and out, including cutting out part of the back seat to make room for a cooler and supplies. An added fuel cell helped load the car with more than 60 total gallons of gasoline.

The team also deployed a laser defuser, which alerts the driver when police use laser guns to register speed. The device scrambles the laser for a couple seconds, which is long enough to slow down, Toman said. A brake light kill switch also helped the team avoid signalling police that they were braking.

Other devices included a radar detector, police scanner, CB radio, several GPS devices and an old-fashioned kitchen timer. That helped cut down on the math of time-zone changes, Toman noted. A hunting scope mounted on the roof helped detect roadside deer and parse heat signatures of police in speed traps.

Their secret weapon, though, were spotters along for the journey in other cars and in the back seat. Chadwick, a college student armed with gyro-stabilized binoculars, was tapped to look for police cars ahead or going the other way."

   I do not wish to be seen as promoting such an activity and now will simply direct you to sources where you can learn more. 

Sources:

  For On-Demand films see:

The Canadian website is here

For the Canadian introduction see: "Demand Film Launches in Canada," Jordan Pinto, Playback, Aug. 28, 2017.

“The company’s goal is to set up one-night cinema screenings for feature films (typically documentaries) on evenings when theatre attendance is low (usually Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday). Since it was founded four years ago, the company has expanded to the U.S, U.K., Ireland, Singapore and Germany and has now launched in all the provinces across Canada. 

Demand.Film’s model is designed to give filmmakers and producers a way of getting projects that appeal to niche audiences into cinemas. In order for a screening to take place, a person must first request a film (from Demand.Film’s catalogue of titles) to be screened in their own market. Once tickets go on sale, the number of tickets sold must reach a certain threshold for a screening to go ahead. In Canada, 50 tickets is the threshold in order to make a one-off screening profitable. If less than 50 tickets are sold for a particular theatre, the screening does not go ahead and ticket-buyers aren’t charged. If a screening is locked in, Demand.Film typically confirms four or five weeks in advance."

  For the Australian background: "Perth Cinema On-Demand Startup Demand.Film Thinks Global With Launch Into North America", Angele Castles, SmartCompany, June 19, 2017. The name of the company originally was Leap Frog Films and was changed to Demand.Films.

For information about Four by 3000 the kickstarter website where they sought funding. 

For the Race Across America see the Wikipedia entry and the RAAM website. 

There is even a tougher cycling race for those who compete alone and without support. See the Wikipedia entry for The Trans Am Bike Race  or the official website. 

For the illegal 'Cannonball' Event see these two recent articles and the very good and long account on Arne's Antics. With good photos. 

"These Guys Finished a Record Cannonball Run From New York to L.A. Averaging 103 MPH: Here's How," Alex Horton, Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2019.

"These Guys Just Drove an E63 AMG Across America in a Record 27 Hours and 25 Minutes: The Cannonball Record Has Been Broken Again," Benjamin Preston, Road & Track, Dec.3, 2019

"My Journey to the Fastest Drive in History,"by Arne's Antics, Dec. 3, 2019.