To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight

By: James Tobin

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Synopsis: 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.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781439135495
Related ISBNs:: 9780743255363
Publisher:: Free Press
Date of Addition:: 07/07/16
Copyrighted By:: James Tobin
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction, Science, Biographies and Memoirs, Technology
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.