To Conquer the Air

The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight

By: James Tobin

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Paperback | 3 May 2004

At a Glance

Paperback
448 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.96 x 13.34 x 3.18

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James Tobin, award-winning author of Ernie Pyle's War and The Man He Became, has penned the definitive account of the inspiring and impassioned race between the Wright brothers and their primary rival Samuel Langley across ten years and two continents to conquer the air.

For years, Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville, experimented in obscurity, supported only by their exceptional family. Meanwhile, the world watched as Samuel Langley, armed with a contract from the US War Department and all the resources of the Smithsonian Institution, sought to create the first manned flying machine. But while Langley saw flight as a problem of power, the Wrights saw a problem of balance. Thus their machines took two very different paths—Langley’s toward oblivion, the Wrights’ toward the heavens—though not before facing countless other obstacles. With a historian’s accuracy and a novelist’s eye, Tobin has captured an extraordinary moment in history. To Conquer the Air is itself a heroic achievement.

Industry Reviews

The Seattle Times Fabulous...fascinating...A tale about the triumph of sweat and labor over might and money. It's hard to think of a better book to bring next time one climbs aboard an airplane. Bookpage A magnificent book about magnificent men. Chicago Sun-Times Tobin is interested as much in the personalities of Orville and Wilbur Wright as he is in the technical aspects of their feat. And he outlines their lives with style and brio.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Transportation Aircraft & Aviation Biographies & True Stories Biographies Science, Technology & Medicine Biographies History Regional & National History History of the Americas Engineering & Technology Transport Technology & Trades Aerospace & Aviation Technology

Technology in General History of Engineering & Technology Earliest Times to Present Day 20th Century History from 1900 to 2000

Prologue: Decoration Day, 1899	p. 1
"The Edge of Wonder"	p. 7
"A Slight Possibility"	p. 36
"Some Practical Experiments"	p. 57
"Truth and Error Intimately Mixed"	p. 88
"The Possibility of Exactness"	p. 115
"A Thousand Glides"	p. 132
"Our Turn to Throw"	p. 169
Interlude	p. 193
"What Hath God Wrought?"	p. 204
"The Clean Air of the Heavens"	p. 221
"A Flying Machine at Anchor"	p. 246
"A World of Trouble"	p. 274
"The Light on Glory's Plume"	p. 300
"The Greatest Courage and Achievements"	p. 327
Epilogue	p. 358
Acknowledgments	p. 367
Notes	p. 371
A Note on Sources	p. 409
Index	p. 415
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

To Conquer the Air

The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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