A history of aviation in Texas that "brilliantly demonstrates the evolution of flight technology as a harbinger of social change" ( Technology and Culture).In this book, pilot and historian Barbara Ganson brings to life the colorful personalities that shaped the phenomenally successful development of the aviation industry in the Lone Star state. Weaving stories and profiles of aviators, designers, manufacturers, and those in related servi...

Though often restricted as aviators, women helped build a stable aircraft industry that became the envy of the world. Barbara Ganson delves into the lives of the women whose work as test pilots, flight school owner-operators, airport managers, and in other roles impacted and reflected larger trends in society.Women aviators challenged social norms that considered them inept with machinery and incapable of handling early flight’s very real dangers. Ganson follows how the New Woman e...

**Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • Winner of the Kirkus Nonfiction Prize • Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable BookNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Stunning…A heart-pounding thriller…Challenger is a remarkable book.” —The Atlantic • “Devastating…A universal story that transcends time.” —The New York Times • “Dramatic…a moving narrative.” —The Wa...

A New York Times Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice * A Time Best Book for SummerBetween the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. While male pilots were lauded as heroes, the few women who dared to fly were more often ridiculed—until a cadre of women pilots banded together to break through the entrenched prejudice.This gripping true...

**A New Yorker Best Book of 2025 • An NPR Book We Love 2025 • A History Best Book of 2025 • A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2025 • A New York Post Best Book of 2025 • A New York Times Editors' Choice • CBS Sunday Morning Summer Book Report Pick • New York Times “Books to Read in July” • A Town and Country Best Book of July • An Amazon Best Book of July • A Barnes & Noble Best Book of July • A LitHub Best Reviewed No...

As young boys, Orville and Wilbur Wright loved all things mechanical. As young men, they gained invaluable skills essential for their success by working with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and any sort of machinery they could get their hands on. As adults, the brothers worked together to invent, build, and fly the world’s first successful airplane. This is the fascinating story of the two inventors and aviation pioneers who never lost sight of their dream: to fly, and to soar higher!

How a few women fought to board planes, then fly them, and finally to break through earth’s atmosphere into space.The story of how women in Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia, struggled to win a place in the world of air travel, first as passengers, then as flight attendants and pilots, and, finally, as astronauts. Anecdotes, sometimes humourous and always amazing, trace these women’s challenges and successes, their slow march over 100 years from scandal...

From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum—as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin's Almanac—comes the thrilling story of America's most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart.In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia's life (from childhood up until her last flight) and the exhaustive search for her and her missing plane. With incredible photos, maps, and handwritten notes from Amelia herself—...

"A soaring account of the first flight across the Atlantic . . . Lindbergh's flight still astonishes . . . Suspenseful." — The Cleveland Plain DealerFor five weeks—from April 14 to May 21, 1927—the world held its breath while fourteen aviators took to the air to capture the $25,000 prize that Raymond Orteig offered to the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean without stopping.Joe Jackson's Atlantic Fever is about this race...

Harold Gillam Sr's story is presented with new clarity and balance. Bush Pilot describes a private, introspective man torn between family responsibilities and his unrelenting drive to pursue his goals in aviation. Early Alaska aviation did not rely on the actions of one single pilot but succeeded through the shared strength and will of many. Yet Gillam made significant contributions. The facts and details surrounding Gillam's adventures and some times "edge of the seat" flights keep reader...

"The single best book that we now have on Earhart." — The Washington Post Book WorldAmelia Earhart (1897-1937) captured the hearts of America after becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928. Nine years later, her disappearance on an around-the-world flight brought her extraordinary life to an abrupt and mysterious end.Based on a decade of archival research through Earhart's letters, journals, and diaries, and draw...

Unravel one of history's greatest mysteries in this spellbinding narrative exploring three leading theories of Amelia Earhart's tragic disappearance.When Amelia Earhart's plane disappeared in 1937, the clues poured in, attracting wild conspiracies about her tragic fate.In Lost, former National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan delves into Earhart's disappearance, introducing a host of eccentric characters who have become obsessed with finding the truth. D...