| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 173 words from this article are provided below; about 337 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight. By James Tobin. (New York: Free Press, 2003. x, 433 pp. $28.00,ISBN 0-684-85688-3.)

With the outpouring of literature on the Wright brothers and the invention of the airplane that has accompanied the centennial of flight, one wonders what the journalist James Tobin can tell us that is not already in the fine books by Tom Crouch, Peter Jakab, and Fred Howard. We know, for example, that the Wrights solved the so-called problem of the century by breaking heavier-than-air flight down into its component parts and focusing on three-axis control. We know, too, that the brothers were resourceful self-taught engineers who viewed the problem in their mind's eye and with persistence and teamwork succeeded where all others had not. Among those who failed was Samuel P. Langley, who after remarkable flights by his steam-powered models saw his ambitions sink into the Potomac River along with the Great Aerodrome only days before the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk.

. . .

There are about 337 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.