Empires
of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
by Alexander Rose
Read or Download at: http://best.ebookcollection.space/?book=B07VLW9QCN
The
Golden Age of Aviation is brought to life by the story of the giant Zeppelin
airships that once roamed the sky and ended with the fiery destruction of the
Hindenburg.
At the dawn of the twentieth
century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany's
Count von Zeppelin vied with the Wright Brothers to build the world's first
successful flying machine. As the Wrights labored to invent the airplane,
Zeppelin fathered the wondrous airship, sparking a bitter rivalry between the
two types of aircraft and their innovators that would last for decades in the
quest to control one of humanity's most inspiring achievements.
And it was the airship -- not
the airplane -- that would lead the way. In the glittery 1920s, the count's
brilliant protégé, Hugo Eckener, achieved undreamt-of feats of daring and
skill, including the extraordinary Round-the-World Voyage of the Graf Zeppelin.
At a time when America's
airplanes -- rickety deathtraps held together by glue, screws, and luck --
could barely make it from New York to Washington, Eckener's airships serenely
traversed oceans without a single crash, fatality, or injury. What Charles Lindbergh
almost died doing -- crossing the Atlantic in 1927 -- Eckener effortlessly
accomplished three years before the Spirit of St. Louis even took off.
Even as the Nazis sought to
exploit Zeppelins for their own nefarious purposes, Eckener built his masterwork,
the behemoth Hindenburg -- a marvel of design and engineering. Determined to
forge an airline empire under the new flagship, Eckener met his match in Juan
Trippe, the ruthlessly ambitious king of Pan American Airways, who believed his
fleet of next-generation planes would vanquish Eckener's coming airship armada.
It was a fight only one man --
and one technology -- could win. Countering each other's moves on the global
chessboard, each seeking to wrest the advantage from his rival, the two men's struggle
for mastery of the air was not only the clash of technologies, but of business,
diplomacy, politics, personalities, and their vastly different dreams of the
future.
Empires of the Sky is the
sweeping, untold tale of the duel that transfixed the world and helped create
our modern age.
Product
details
Hardcover : 624 pages
Publisher : Random House
(April 28, 2020)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 081298997X
ISBN-13 : 978-0812989977
Product Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.6 x 9.5 inches
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