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Title: Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of Air Travel by Douglas Botting ISBN: 0-8050-6458-3 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: When Zeppleins ruled the skies
Comment: Sometimes, as the great zeppelins would cross the skies , people below would run in panic fearing the end of the world. Douglas Botting has offered up a glimpse into the creation of the zeppelin as a means of travel and war. He also gives an invaluable look into the world at that time. One man during the early 1900's was more close identified with the zeppelin and pioneered the continuation of development and usage , Hugo Eckener. This same Dr.Eckner would always be looking for ways to improve the zeppelins he would soon fly all over the world. This book follows the refinement of the zeppelin design during his time as well as the expansion of the use of the zeppelin, for both travel and commerce. Also explored is the limited success the zeppelin had as a war time airship and the continual search for ways to use it for both peaceful and wartime purposes. As the zeppelin became a travel ship, even though for only the very rich, the voyages were followed in the press. Randolph Hearst even bankrolled a round-the-world flight to set a new record. The people who traveled on zeppelins became celebrities. As the excitement of the possibilities of zeppelin travel becan to swell there was the evergrowing threat posed by the government of Dr. Eckner's Germany, the Nazi party. This book combines the feel of the times, and introduces some real personalities of those years. We see how these huge airships truly managed to capture the popular imagination. Not at all a dry read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant description of flawd concept.
Comment: Essentially a story of the historic round-world trip of the Graf Zeppelin, it evolves into a concise history of the Zeppelin dirigible industry and the men who made it happen against all the odds.
Brilliant description and narrative flow combine with meticulous research in praise of what was arguably the most impressive man-made sight in the skies - ever. However, we are constantly reminded of the economic facts that this could never be a long-term solution to mass travel. On most flights the crew outnumbered the passengers, there were no schedules to speak of, ground crews numbered in the hundreds and only the very wealthy could afford the expense of the trips. Eckener was not fazed by this - his dream was to use the airship to relieve economic hardship, facilitate scientific research and promote political harmony.
And, we read between the lines of the love that Dr. Eckener (and Mr. Botting) have for this beautiful form of air-travel; it pours from the page in the transcripts of newspaper reporter's accounts, in the tumultuous reception that these great airships had at every arrival, in the awe of the primitive people of the Sahara and Siberia.
The sad thing is that these giants never really achieved their promised sovereignty of the skies - sadder still is the Epilogue which hints at the resurgence of German airship industry in the Cargolifter enterprise, which is now in receivership.
Nevertheless, a rivetting read and a fascinating insight into a breed of men (and a woman) who persevered in promoting a wonderful dream.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent..and personal
Comment: The woman in this book, Lady Grace Hay-Drummond-Hay is my great aunt (my paternal grandmother's sister). Sadly she died many years before I ever knew her and so this book not only is a great read from an historical perspective, it also tells me more about my inspirational relative.
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Title: Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships : Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg by Harold G. Dick, Douglas H. Robinson ISBN: 1560982195 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: November, 1992 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: The Great Dirigibles by John Toland ISBN: 0486213978 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1972 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Zeppelin!: Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939 by Guillaume De Syon ISBN: 0801867347 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Airship by Christopher Sprigg, Adam Starchild ISBN: 0898753651 Publisher: University Press of the Pacific Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $32.50 |
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Title: My Airships: The Storyof My Life by Alberto Santos-Dumont by Alberto Santos-Dumont, Adam Starchild ISBN: 0898752450 Publisher: University Press of the Pacific Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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