Glenn Curtiss

New York’s aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss (1878-1930) warrants a more prominent place in history. He is often sidelined or slighted by historians who focus on the Wright brothers.

Last year, David McCullough’s book The Wright Brothers was a good example.

William Hazelgrove’s new book Wright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned Flight, is another example. It demonstrates convincingly that Wilbur Wright was much more important in the development of a “flying machine” than his brother Orville. It has a good deal of information on the Wright family. It is an interesting book. [Read more…] about Glenn Curtiss’ Place in History

Pulitzer-prize winning author David McCullough has published a new book, The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2017).

It is a bit of a disappointment in some ways — there is no overarching essay on the American spirit, and the book itself is actually a collection of commencement talks and other speeches by the author over the years rather than new work.

But like all of McCullough’s works, the book is stimulating and worth reading for its perspectives and insights, its eloquent writing, and particularly for the way it makes the case for the values of history. [Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne: Dave McCullough and the Uses of History