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