Bayla Singer offers a unique approach to humanity’s fascination 
with flying. Rather than merely tracing the factual prehistory of 
flight up to the success of the Wright Brothers, Singer considers 
the interaction and influence of our dreams, fantasies, culture, and 
technology on the age-old quest to fly.

    This enlightening narrative begins with the deities and other 
denizens of the heavens that humanity has created in its religion, 
literature, and art. At first a monopoly of the gods, flight came to 
interest humanity as a way to free itself from the physical and 
intellectual bonds of the earth.

    The mythology of flight eventually gives way to the pursuit of 
actual flight. Singer shows in compelling detail the many flying 
machines that have been created, including balloons, gliders, and 
kites. The accomplishment of the Wright Brothers and our 
successful trips into space are merely stops on a continuing 
journey, as our ancient dream of flying continues to push us to new 
and loftier places.

    Filled with compelling stories and detailed illustrations, this 
book provides absorbing reading for aviation experts, those 
fascinated with the intimate relationship between technology and 
culture, and all of us who have even a passing interest in flying. 

_________________________________________________________

BAYLA SINGER, currently an independent scholar, has served as 
a consultant for the Smithsonian and has written a number of 
magazine and journal articles. She resides in Palm Beach Gardens, 
Florida.


Number Three: Centennial of Flight Series


What people are saying about this book


"Singer looks for new links and ideas, providing us a new    
perspective. Even on a familiar subject, Singer has a different 
take. . . . [It] is not what you'd expect in a history of flight. . . . 
Traditional  histories of flight will now seem incomplete without this 
book as their companion."—Dr. Christian Gelzer, deputy historian at 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight 
Research  Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, Technology 
and Culture

". . . a fascinating odyssey based on a truly impressive range of
scholarly and popular sources."—Choice 

". . . an intriguing, refreshing, interdisciplinary approach to a
subject less familiar than it may seem."—Booklist

"Able presentation of the piquant stew of emotional, literary, artistic,
religious, and technological consideration that spurred—and spurred
and spurred—the will to human flight."—Kirkus Reviews