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A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1908-1918
The invention of the aeroplane was both the realization of an age-old human fantasy and a portent of a great new future. This elegantly written and exhilarating book — the first cultural history of the pioneering phase of aviation — tells the story of the ways in which powered flight captured the imagination of writers, artists, and intellectuals and helped to shape new visions of the world.
Prize-winning historian Robert Wohl describes the colorful early aeronauts: the brilliant, taciturn Wilbur Wright, who arrived in France to demonstrate his invention to a skeptical audience and soon became their idol; Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian expatriate and dandy who delighted the Parisian public by landing his dirigible in front of his house on the Champs-Elysées; and Louis Blériot, the first man to fly across the English Channel. He then looks at responses to the development of the flying machine by such writers and artists as H. G. Wells, Emile Driant, Franz Kafka, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Edmond Rostand, E. T. Marinnetti, Vasily Kamensky, Kazimir Malevich, and Robert Delaunay, showing how the responses ranged from celebration of flight to dire warnings of its military implications. Finally he explores the creation of the flying ace, the knights-errant of the sky, analyzing how such men as Roland Garros, Oswald Boelcke, Manfred von Richtofen, and Georges Guynemer became famous, how they came to terms with their deadly pursuit, and how they were mythologized after their deaths. Generously illustrated with rare photographs, drawings, paintings, and posters, the book evokes an era of pride, power, and endless possibility, when the sky first became a new frontier.
Prize-winning historian Robert Wohl describes the colorful early aeronauts: the brilliant, taciturn Wilbur Wright, who arrived in France to demonstrate his invention to a skeptical audience and soon became their idol; Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian expatriate and dandy who delighted the Parisian public by landing his dirigible in front of his house on the Champs-Elysées; and Louis Blériot, the first man to fly across the English Channel. He then looks at responses to the development of the flying machine by such writers and artists as H. G. Wells, Emile Driant, Franz Kafka, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Edmond Rostand, E. T. Marinnetti, Vasily Kamensky, Kazimir Malevich, and Robert Delaunay, showing how the responses ranged from celebration of flight to dire warnings of its military implications. Finally he explores the creation of the flying ace, the knights-errant of the sky, analyzing how such men as Roland Garros, Oswald Boelcke, Manfred von Richtofen, and Georges Guynemer became famous, how they came to terms with their deadly pursuit, and how they were mythologized after their deaths. Generously illustrated with rare photographs, drawings, paintings, and posters, the book evokes an era of pride, power, and endless possibility, when the sky first became a new frontier.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Robert Wohl
9 booksRobert Wohl is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 8, 2013
The Birth of Aviation and Its Place in the Public Mind
Robert Wohl broke from traditional aviation literature, simply presenting the chronology of an era or the technical details of an aircraft type, to delve deeper into the question of how society perceived aviation in its infancy, how aircraft were portrayed in literature, art, and film, and how society was changed by this new invention. Although the subtitle has the dates 1908 to 1918, the story actually begins with the public's occasional glimpses of the secretive activities of the Wright brothers from their historic 1903 flight and Alberto Santos-Dumont's very public first European powered flight in 1906 in central Paris. The stark differences between both events are chronicled, as we move on to Louis Bleriot's successful flight across the English Channel. Then there were the spectacular public air shows, and people were overcome with the grace and speed of these wondrous new flying machines. However, the story of aviation changed dramatically with the onset of the World War I, the first war to use airplanes (rather than simply fixed balloons) first for reconnaissance and later, when engines became sufficiently powerful, as fighters and bombers. Of course the reality of war was very different from the heroic exploits of the flying aces, as shown in novels and film, as well as the celebrity worship of top pilots. In the final chapters, Wohl explores the many ways in which airplanes and aviation were portrayed by painters and poets, writers and artists, as well as national governments - the latter often as a tool of nationalism and propaganda.
This has to be the most thoroughly researched aviation book I have come across; the citations of original sources in a multitude of languages is astounding. The highly informative text is complemented by a profusion of illustrations, providing a visual representation to go along with the written. It is not the easiest book to read, but one that is well worth the effort for those of us who truly have "a passion for wings."
Robert Wohl broke from traditional aviation literature, simply presenting the chronology of an era or the technical details of an aircraft type, to delve deeper into the question of how society perceived aviation in its infancy, how aircraft were portrayed in literature, art, and film, and how society was changed by this new invention. Although the subtitle has the dates 1908 to 1918, the story actually begins with the public's occasional glimpses of the secretive activities of the Wright brothers from their historic 1903 flight and Alberto Santos-Dumont's very public first European powered flight in 1906 in central Paris. The stark differences between both events are chronicled, as we move on to Louis Bleriot's successful flight across the English Channel. Then there were the spectacular public air shows, and people were overcome with the grace and speed of these wondrous new flying machines. However, the story of aviation changed dramatically with the onset of the World War I, the first war to use airplanes (rather than simply fixed balloons) first for reconnaissance and later, when engines became sufficiently powerful, as fighters and bombers. Of course the reality of war was very different from the heroic exploits of the flying aces, as shown in novels and film, as well as the celebrity worship of top pilots. In the final chapters, Wohl explores the many ways in which airplanes and aviation were portrayed by painters and poets, writers and artists, as well as national governments - the latter often as a tool of nationalism and propaganda.
This has to be the most thoroughly researched aviation book I have come across; the citations of original sources in a multitude of languages is astounding. The highly informative text is complemented by a profusion of illustrations, providing a visual representation to go along with the written. It is not the easiest book to read, but one that is well worth the effort for those of us who truly have "a passion for wings."
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review