The Wright Brothers is a 2015 non-fiction book written by the popular historian David McCullough and published by Simon & Schuster. It is a history of the American inventors and aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. The book was on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Sellers list for seven weeks in 2015.
The first airplane was such a big deal you learned about it in elementary school. But hang on, you didn't learn hardly anything about it! Never fear. David takes you through the infancy of aviation and all its heros, not just Wilbur and Orville. A story of character, grit, determination, and meticulous research, the airplane was far from a guarantee, but the Wrights made it seem inevitable.
Terrific book and the perfect length and depth. It sold well when it came out in 2015 and it's easy to see why. Lots of photos, which are always interesting.
About the only thing missing was anything about the love lives of the three main characters, Wilbur, Orville, and Katherine Wright, their sister who this book made me develop a mild crush on. (I'm not the only one who found her interesting. An epistolary novel of historical fiction about her written by [a:Patty Dann|7341805|Patty Dann|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] titled [b:The Wright Sister: A Novel|49947034|The Wright Sister A Novel|Patty Dann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574811817l/49947034.SY75.jpg|72234792] is due to be published in August of 2020. [b:The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and her Famous Brothers|25332077|The Wright Sister Katharine Wright and her Famous Brothers|Richard Maurer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458837035l/25332077.SX50.jpg|1310668]), a non-fiction book, came out in 2016.) Neither of the brothers ever married and Katherine didn't marry until she was 52. They were …
Terrific book and the perfect length and depth. It sold well when it came out in 2015 and it's easy to see why. Lots of photos, which are always interesting.
About the only thing missing was anything about the love lives of the three main characters, Wilbur, Orville, and Katherine Wright, their sister who this book made me develop a mild crush on. (I'm not the only one who found her interesting. An epistolary novel of historical fiction about her written by [a:Patty Dann|7341805|Patty Dann|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] titled [b:The Wright Sister: A Novel|49947034|The Wright Sister A Novel|Patty Dann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574811817l/49947034.SY75.jpg|72234792] is due to be published in August of 2020. [b:The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and her Famous Brothers|25332077|The Wright Sister Katharine Wright and her Famous Brothers|Richard Maurer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458837035l/25332077.SX50.jpg|1310668]), a non-fiction book, came out in 2016.) Neither of the brothers ever married and Katherine didn't marry until she was 52. They were mega-celebrities in their day. Surely they had opportunities, but [a:David McCullough|6281688|David McCullough|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429921568p2/6281688.jpg] never mentions them. It's hard to believe that with the piles of information about them there wouldn't be a love letter or two floating around. Not that it should've been a main part of the book, but you'd think it'd be mentioned.
Another thing I found missing was mention of the role refined oil had. I visited the Outer Banks in 2000 and saw a replica of the original plane. One thing striking about it was how small the fuel tank was, but the idea was that there'd be just enough to get it off the ground and fly for a minute or so to keep everything as light as could be. As damaging and awful a thing as gasoline is, powered flight wouldn't have been possible for decades longer without it. There were some attempts to fly with engines powered by steam, but they were unsuccessful.
In the last days of November, snow fell, something they had not seen before on the Outer Banks. Water in their washbasin froze solid. Cold or not, they succeeded meantime in getting the engine to run with practically no vibration even at high speed. The Flyer would be launched on a single wooden track, to serve like a railroad track 60 feet in length on which it would slide. The total cost for materials for this innovation was all of $4.
By all evidence the brothers had suffered in spirit not in the least. "After a loaf of 15 days, we are down to work again," Orville wrote to Charlie on November 23. "We will not be ready for a trial for several days yet on account of having decided on some changes in the machine. Unless something breaks in the meantime we feel confident in success."
New propeller shafts made of larger, heavier steel tubing arrived from Charlie, only to crack during an indoor test. With no delay, Orville, the better mechanic of the two, packed his bag and on November 30 left for Dayton to see what could be done, with Wilbur remaining behind "to keep house alone," in his words.
Loved this. A less intensive read than the other McCullough books I've tackled, possibly because the scope is more limited. I've never known more about the Wright brothers' first flight than the basic facts. This book describes the brothers' upbringing and work ethic, detailing their approach toward building their flying machines. This period of innovation is set against the Great War we know is coming. It is incredible that within little more than a decade we went from the first flight to using these machines as instruments of destruction. I'm going to try to get my book club to tackle this.
