Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World - Paperback

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Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
  • Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World - Paperback

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World - Paperback

by Alexander Rose
$29.00
$29.00

Book Overview

by Alexander Rose (Author)

The Golden Age of Aviation is brought to life in this story of the giant Zeppelin airships that once roamed the sky--a story that ended with the fiery destruction of the Hindenburg.

"Genius . . . a definitive tale of an incredible time when mere mortals learned to fly."--Keith O'Brien, The New York Times

At the dawn of the twentieth century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany's Count Ferdinand 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 remarkable 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 led the way. In the glittery 1920s, the count's brilliant protégé, Hugo Eckener, achieved undreamed-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, D.C., 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 had 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 struggle for mastery of the air was a clash not only of technologies but of business, diplomacy, politics, personalities, and the two men's 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.

Author Biography

Alexander Rose's previous books include Men of War, American Rifle, Kings in the North, and Washington's Spies, recently adapted into the AMC drama series Turn: Washington's Spies, for which he served as a writer/producer.

Number of Pages: 640
Dimensions: 1.4 x 8.1 x 5.3 IN
Publication Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN9780812989984
Author Alexander Rose
PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
GenreBiography, History, and Technology
FormatPaperback
PublishedMay 2021
LanguageENG- English
Pages640
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography History Nonfiction Technology & Engineering

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About Alexander Rose

Alexander Rose earned his doctorate from Cambridge University, where his prizewinning research focused on political and scientific history. He is the author of Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History and American Rifle: A Biography, and his writing has appeared in The New York Observer, The Washington Post, and many other publications.

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