Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts

Roger E. Bilstein's Flight in America has won acclaim as the foremost history of one of the twentieth century's landmark achievements -- human flight. In this revised and expanded third edition, Bilstein chronicles changes in military, commercial, and space aviation in the 1990s. He offers a glimpse of the developments one might expect in the new millennium.

Richly illustrated and splendidly written, Flight in America charts the manifold ways in which the airplane has touched virtually every feature of American enterprise, history, and culture -- leisure and business travel, commercial transportation, national defense, and imaginative literature. More than 125 lively photographs document the beauty of flying machines and the daring of the men and women who invented, built, and flew them.Praise for previous editions:"The most comprehensive survey of the history of American aeronautics and space flight yet published." -- Technology and Culture

"Bilstein casts wide and far to net virtually everything from technological trends and research and development to the effect of air travel on the expansion of major league baseball in the 1950s and early 1960s... A superior work that will satisfy aero buffs and professionals alike." -- Journal of American History

"By far the best book on man and air travel yet written." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"For those who won't soon be able to visit the National Air and Space Museum, perhaps the next best thing would be to read Flight in America." -- Chronicle of Higher Education

In this volume Bilstein progresses chronologically from the time of the Wright brothers, barnstorming, and early military aviation to the rise of aviation as a business, the advent of airlines, and the technological progress of the airplane. He then spend considerable effort discussing the role of the airplane in World War II before moving into post-war developments with jet airliners, global military reach made possible with aircraft, and the beginning and development of the space age. In every sense, he offers a satisfying survey of aerospace issues that is useful both to students and scholars alike.

At a fundamental level, "Flight in America" represents an attempt to help coalesce a "New Aerospace History." Like the "New Western History" or the "New Social History" that has been so important in the last twenty years, this approach represents a significant transformation that has largely been, although not exclusively, taking place in the field. Specifically, the "New Aerospace History" is committed to relating the subject to the larger issues of society, politics, and culture, taking a more sophisticated view of the technology than historians previously held. In the past, many writers on aerospace history held a fascination with the machinery, which has been largely anthropomorphized and often seen as "magical."

The "New Aerospace History" embodied in this work moves beyond a fetish for the artifact to emphasize the broader role of the air- and spacecraft, and more importantly the whole technological system including not just the vehicle but also the other components that make up the aerospace climate, as an integral part of the human experience. This is not to be understood as lacking an interest in the artifact, or being artifactless. Rather it is an affirmation that one moves through reason and study to a larger understanding. It suggests that many unanswered questions are present in helping the development of modern flight, and that inquisitive individuals seek to know that which they do not understand. This assumption arises within historians and is based on their understanding of humans, for technological systems are constructions of the human mind or minds.

This work emphasizes, therefore, research in aerospace topics that are no longer limited to the vehicle-centered, internalist, style of history that had gone before. "Flight in America" offers all of us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in this truly challenging new approach to the field. Highly recommended.


WHAT A WONDERFUL BOOK!   July 30, 2000
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is one of those books that you look for, but seldom find. It is written so that it is easily read, easily understood, and easily absorbed. It is well researched, full of interesting facts and personal stories, and never lets up the pace of delivering an interesting, informative and educational narrative. I found it so much fun to read and understand, that I finished the entire book in three days, then read it again to reap what I might have missed the first time through. The author did an outstanding job of compiling and presenting complicated facts, dry figures, and personal stories into one very interesting and fun narrative. I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to know every step of the race to flight history in the United states from the Wright brothers, to space exploration. The author managed to include almost every detail in this history of flight that you could ever want to know and still keep the story line from becoming boring, or slowing down once throughout the entire book. This wonderful work would be worth twice the asking price. I am glad that I found it, and am really glad that I now own it as part of my historical collection.