Yeah Jeff Walter's book would be good... don't think it has much on evolution of the machine.
And yes... Any questions throw them our way here.. a lot of knowledge on this board.
Walters and Ebners books would both be good sources to name. A thourough understanding of them could lead to creating some very interesting reading material.
Summary: Started with wooden barrel sawed in half filled with ice, then wood coolers, then metal coolers with embossed lettering, water circulators, air circulators , coin operated spintops, upright machines, single vend then multivend, crank handle coin mech.'s then electrics, square corner shelf machines then the can stacks, etc.