The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950

by Joseph J. Corn

Reconstructs the early years of aviation and discusses famous and lesser-known aviators, ranging from Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to Calbraith P. Rodgers

Genres: Aviation, History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Joseph J. Corn is a senior lecturer in the department of history at Stanford University.

Reviews

[Darnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than expected. I thought it might have interesting parallels to cultural enthusiasm over the internet and other recent technology, but America's expectations for aviation were surprisingly utopian. Especially notable was that this wasn't paralleled in other nations, which predicted bombing in WWII instead of superhuman beings of pure light and air. The book doesn't try to draw any grand theories, just does a good job poking at different aspects of this period of history.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and original. Answered questions I had about why America was so fascinated with aviation in the early 20th century, yet seems uninterested now.

[Barbara Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without reading Corn's book, an individual will not understand the concept of flight by the public during its early development. Flying an airplane took one closer to the heavens and gave them etheral powers. Pilots assumed a god-like status among the earth-bound. Women flying - now that was most certainly a ridiculous thought! It would not be until the 1930s, that the public began to gradually accept air travel. Do read this book. It is excellent.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads like a post-doc dissertation book. Great information, but luckily it was fairly short because I was loosing interest.