Sagittarius Rising - Hardcover

Lewis, Cecil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1853671436 ISBN 13: 9781853671432

Publisher: Greenhill Books, 1993

Synopsis

Generally regarded as one of the classic memoirs of World War I, this is a personal account of the air fighting that took place. The author, Cecil Lewis, was a British airman and also a founder-member of the BBC.

About this title

Review

If you want to read one book which best captures the heroic infancy of flying, then Sagittarius Rising is it. Forget St Exupery, Lindbergh or even Richard Hillary. Cecil Lewis got there before any of them, and in this magical memoir summed up the terrible beauty of flying, and fighting the first air war, waged in the skies above the Western Front. --Nigel Jones, BBC History Magazine

Sagittarius Rising is his stirring, often moving, account of his years with the corps, fighting on the Western Front. The vivid descriptions of dog-fights (including an encounter with the Red Baron) and the exhilaration of flight transcend Boy's Own Paper banality through his poignancy and lyrical depth. --The Times

This is a book everyone should read. It is the autobiography of an ace, and no common ace either. The boy had all the noble tastes and qualities, love of beauty, soaring imagination, a brilliant endowment of good looks . . . this prince of pilots . . . had a charmed life in every sense of the word . . . he is a thinker, a master of words, and a bit of a poet. --George Bernard Shaw

About the Author

Cecil Lewis distinguished himself in action with eight victories throughout WWI and was awarded the MC. After the war he became a flying instructor in China and later achieved fame as one of the founders of the BBC, and as a respected playwright. He died in 1997.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853671436
• ISBN 13: 9781853671432
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352