Carl Solberg

Blends anecdote and narrative to reconstruct the history of passenger air travel in the United States, from the hair-raising experiences of the first intrepid passengers to the entrepreneurial successes of William Boeing, Donald Douglas, and Howard Hughes. the birth, growth, and evolution of various airline companies, including their involvement with the government; technical advancement; and the actual experience of flying,

Beginning with the origins of flight and culminating in the 747, Conquest artfully combines business, social, and technical history. That distinguishes it from other books in this vein, like the tech-focused Turbulent Skies. Written for lay readers, Solberg brackets his history with reflections on how the romance of flight became – through persistent tinkering, reckless adventurism, war, and ambition– a perfectly ordinary form of transportation that shrunk the world, opening global vistas to the multitude.

In the beginning, there was the Post Office. Solberg’s first chapter, of course, is about the Wright brothers’ achievement and the rise of airplane manufacturing in the Great War. The story of commercial aviation picks up in earnest, however, after the war, when the US Postal Service began using the US Army airplanes created for the war to deliver mail.… (más)