The release date for the English version of 'The Wright Brothers' by
David McCullough is May 2015. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Note from the librarian: This is an alternative cover version.
David McCullough, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, presents the gripping behind-the-scenes tale of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the brave brothers who taught the world how to fly.
on 1903, two unidentified Ohio brothers altered the course of history on a wintry day on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. However, it would take some time for the rest of the world to accept that the first powered, heavier-than-air aircraft carrying a pilot had ushered in the era of flight.
What made these guys tick, and how did they accomplish what they accomplished?
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough recounts Wilbur and Orville Wright's unexpected and very American tale.
They were considerably more than a pair of ignorant Dayton bicycle mechanics who just so happened to strike it rich; they were guys of remarkable bravery and resolve, with a wide range of academic interests and an insatiable curiosity that they largely ascribed to their background. They didn't have indoor water or electricity in their home, but they had an abundance of books—mostly from their preacher father—and they read nonstop.
Nothing seemed impossible when they collaborated. Without a doubt, Wilbur was a genius. Few have ever witnessed Orville's mechanical genius before. Their lack of wealth, connections in high places, and public high school education did not deter them from pursuing their goal of taking to the skies. Nothing worked, not even the obvious fact that they ran the chance of dying each time they launched one of their schemes.
Master historian David McCullough tells the human side of the Wright Brothers' story in this gripping book, drawing on the vast resources of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, and over a thousand letters from private family correspondence. He also discusses the little-known contributions of Katharine, their sister, without whom things very well could have turned out differently for them.