For auto hobbyists who would like to take a nostalgic trip back to the much talked about 1950s, Oregon author and historian Albert Drake has recorded the era through a series of photos, illustrations, and memories in this easy-to-read book. Drake captures a decade worth of cars we coveted, built, and drove, as well as the movies we saw, the clothing we wore, and the books and magazines we read. He talks about "study hall mechanics," the cars and prices in the classified auto section of his newspaper, the cars he found in back rows of car lots. I think he is gifted at painting factual word pictures of that simpler time, the Fifties.

A number of chapters cover material he used while writing a column for Rod Action magazine for 16 years. Albert Drake has authored other auto-related books, and is a long-time, regular contributor to Old Cars Weekly. If you've read his articles there, you'll know he writes with clarity and accuracy, and is determined to capture automotive history as he interviews those who've lived it.

Drake has captured with much insight just what it was in the Fifties that made such an impact on people and why it's become today's nostalgia. This book is an extensive, thought-provoking history of the Fifties and one that will show your children and grandchildren what life really was like in that decade. Every auto hobbyist should have a copy of Fifties Flashback in his or her home library.

• Reviewed by Marian Dinwiddie