Short Synopsis
A riveting account of an incredible 3,423-mile foot race across America, the Great Foot Race of 1928, and of C. C. Pyle, the legendary sports promoter who masterminded the event.

Full Synopsis
Among the runners of C. C. Pyle's First Annual International Transcontinental Foot Race were an assortment of underdogs, including twenty-year-old Oklahoman and part Cherokee Andy Payne, who wanted to win over the girl of his dreams and pay off the mortgage on his family's farm; Paul "Hardrock" Simpson, who was in over his head but couldn't let down his North Carolina hometown; Mike Kelly, a luckless boxer from Indiana; Seattle's Ed Gardner, one of four black runners who encountered bigotry; Charles Hart, a sixty-three-year-old Englishman hoping his best days weren't behind him; and Frank Johnson, a middle-aged husband, father, and steelworker from St. Louis who broke away from his humdrum life and dared to do something different.

Newspaper and magazine journalist Geoff Williams details this historic event and the colorful cast of characters involved, based on firsthand accounts of those who were there and interviews from many living descendants. C. C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race is a classic American story so astonishing and surreal that you have to hear it to believe it.

"This engaging and poignant snapshot of American sports and social history is highly recommended." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"A breezy, entertaining read that properly balances the runners' integrity with the comedy of errors that was Pyle's grand experiment and his life." ---Publishers Weekly

"Williams recounts the story with gusto, giving us a real sense of the physical and mental toll the competition took on its participants. Pyle comes off as a likable rogue, a classic Roaring Twenties, get-rich-quick kind of guy. The book is like a time capsule and an extremely entertaining one at that." ---Booklist

"Dean carries the story of the race well, his bass voice clearly bringing this slice of Americana to life." ---AudioFile

Also Available in Trade Paperback!

Audie Finalist