A Man in a Hurry : The Extraordinary Life and Times of Edward Payson Weston, the World's Greatest Walker

Edward Payson Weston's 3,100-mile walk from California to New York, completed on 3 May 1910, was one of his great achievements, but only one. It took him just 77 days. He was 71 years old. For half a century Weston was one of the most famous people in the English-speaking world, as the first age of international celebrity unfolded. The godfather of the pedestrianism movement, he criss-crossed Britain and America on foot earning fame, fortune and notoriety in an athletic career that saw him complete some of the most amazing endurance feats ever witnessed. In this entertaining and wide-ranging book, co-authors Nick Harris, Helen Harris and Paul Marshall, skillfully recreate a vanished world to tell one of the most amazing stories in sporting history. Part social history, part biography, part exposition of the seedy underbelly of Victorian society, this is a work that draws in elements of sporting genius, high stakes gambling, drug abuse, and marital scandal. A Man in a Hurry is one man's flamboyant athletic journey from the Gold Rush to the Jazz Age, the story of a dreamer, schemer and ladies man who met with Presidents and royalty, crooks and knaves. With its colourful detail, historical context and readable style, this groundbreaking work is an important addition to the sports literature canon.