The Winged Gospel: America's Romance With Aviation, 1900-1950 - Softcover

Corn, Joseph J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195041585 ISBN 13: 9780195041583

Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1987

Synopsis

From the day when two bicycle mechanics made the first flight at Kitty Hawk until after World War II, Americans have invested extraordinary hopes in airplanes, expecting them to revolutionize daily life and transform the world. This book reconstructs the first era of manned flight, bringing back to life the famous and lesser-known aviators who became America's heroes: Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Calbraith P. Rodgers, and many others. Abounding in fascinating detail, this book provides a vivid picture of America in the first half of the century--its aspirations and concerns--as expressed in the exuberant and often utopian response to a major new technology.

About this title

Review:

"Joseph Corn's lively and readable book... is well organized and written, thoroughly researched in primary documentation, and richly anecdotal and fascinating. Here are gathered the couples wedded in the air, the designers of automobiles that fly, the prophets of peace and prosperity -- the true believers... in the millennium of flight." -- Alex Roland, Isis

"Corn exploit[s] a wide assortment of books, periodicals, and cultural symbols and is adept at extrapolating evidence to support his thesis that aviation became something of a secular religion, promoting both prosperity and harmony. The author's enthusiasm for his topic is infectious." -- Roger E. Bilstein, Journal of American History

"A lively study." -- Wall Street Journal

About the Author:

Joseph J. Corn is a senior lecturer in the department of history at Stanford University. He is the co-author of Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future, available from Johns Hopkins.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0195041585
• ISBN 13: 9780195041583
• Binding: Paperback