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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

David McCullough

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot.

Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did?

David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the surprising, profoundly American story of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Far more than a couple of unschooled Dayton bicycle mechanics who happened to hit on success, they were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity, much of which they attributed to their upbringing. The house they lived in had no electricity or indoor plumbing, but there were books aplenty, supplied mainly by their preacher father, and they never stopped reading.

When they worked together, no problem seemed to be insurmountable. Wilbur was unquestionably a genius. Orville had such mechanical ingenuity as few had ever seen. That they had no more than a public high school education, little money and no contacts in high places, never stopped them in their “mission” to take to the air. Nothing did, not even the self-evident reality that every time they took off in one of their contrivances, they risked being killed.

In this thrilling book, master historian David McCullough draws on the immense riches of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, and more than a thousand letters from private family correspondence to tell the human side of the Wright Brothers’ story, including the little-known contributions of their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them.

David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback. His other acclaimed books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge,and The Greater Journey. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
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Book

Published 2015-05-01 by Simon & Schuster

Book

Published 2015-05-01 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

[A] fluently rendered, skillfully focused study. . . . An educational and inspiring biography of seminal American innovators. Read more...

HBO has bought rights with Tom Hank’s production company for a miniseries of the book. No air date (the script is still in the works). Tom Hanks’ production company Playtone also executive produced the HBO miniseries events Band of Brothers (by Stephen Ambrose) and McCullough’s John Adams.

A story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency. . . . A story, well told, about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished. . . . The Wright Brothers soars. Daniel Okrent

McCullough’s magical account of [the Wright Brothers'] early adventures — enhanced by volumes of family correspondence, written records, and his own deep understanding of the country and the era — shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly. Reeve Lindbergh Read more...

Few historians have captured the essence of America — its rise from an agrarian nation to the world's dominant power — like David McCullough. . . . McCullough has defined American icons and revealed new dimensions to stories that long seemed exhausted. . . . An elegant, sweeping look at the two Americans who went where no others had gone before and whose work helped create a national excellence in aviation that continues today. Ray Locker

[McCullough] takes the Wrights’ story aloft. . . . Concise, exciting, and fact-packed. . . . Mr. McCullough presents all this with dignified panache, and with detail so granular you may wonder how it was all collected. Janet Maslin Read more...

McCullough’s amiable and absorbing chronicle of the efforts required for human flight, expertly woven around a condensed biography of Wilbur (1867–1912) and Orville (1871–1948) Wright, offers readers any number of pleasures. With characteristic style and warmth, McCullough focuses on the details of invention and the force of the brothers’ character, making this story-rich history all the more rewarding. Read more...

An outstanding saga of the lives of two men who left such a giant footprint on our modern age. Read more...

The nitty-gritty of exactly how [the Wrights] succeeded is told in fascinating detail. Buzzy Jackson

[An] enjoyable, fast-paced tale. . . . A fun, fast ride. Read more...

British: S&S UK, Chinese (CC), Chinese (SI): Beijing Logicreation Info & Technology, Czech: Albatros, Dutch: Unieboek, Hungarian: Maxim, Japanese: Soshisha, Korean: Seung San, Polish: Czarne, Portuguse (P): Relogio E’Agua, Vietnamese: Alpha

David McCullough has etched a brisk, admiring portrait of the modest, hardworking Ohioans who designed an airplane in their bicycle shop and solved the mystery of flight on the sands of Kitty Hawk, N.C. He captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished and, just as important, the wonder felt by their contemporaries. . . . Mr. McCullough is in his element writing about seemingly ordinary folk steeped in the cardinal American virtues—self-reliance and can-do resourcefulness. Roger Lowenstein Read more...

The story of the brothers’ single-minded quest to master the skies is a compelling one, made even more compelling by McCullough’s sure-handed storytelling skills. Read more...

Simon & Schuster has 479,160 copies in print in 8 printings and will be going back to print again soon (18.8.15)

McCullough vividly re-creates the failures and disappointments as the Wright brothers puzzle out the scienceof bird- and insect-wing design. . . . [McCullough] continues to deliverhigh-quality material with familiar facility and grace. Larry Lebowitz

McCullough's usual warm, evocative prose makes for an absorbing narrative; he conveys both the drama of the birth of flight and the homespun genius of America's golden age of innovation. Read more...

It’s still on the New York Times Bestseller list at #3 this week for a total of 14 weeks – since publication it’s been at #1 for several weeks and in the top 5 overall (18.8.15)