Full name: Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos Dumont and the Invention of Flight

Author: Paul Hoffman Year: 2003 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Biographies, History, Science, Non Fiction Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780786866595 0786866594

On the eve of the centennial of the Wright brothers' historic flights at Kitty Hawk, a new generation will learn about the other man who was once hailed worldwide as the conqueror of the air--Alberto Santos-Dumont. Because the Wright brothers worked in secrecy, word of their first flights had not reached Europe when Santos-Dumont took to the skies in 1906. The dashing, impeccably dressed inventor entertained Paris with his airborne antics--barhopping in a little dirigible that he tied to lampposts, circling above crowds around the Eiffel Tower, and crashing into rooftops. A man celebrated, even pursued by the press in Paris, London, and New York, Santos-Dumont dined regularly with the Cartiers, the Rothschilds, and the Roosevelts. But beneath his lively public exterior, Santos-Dumont was a frenzied genius tortured by the weight of his own creation. Wings of Madness chronicles the science and history of early aviation and offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an extraordinary and tormented man, vividly depicting the sights and sounds of turn-of-the-century Paris. It is a book that will do for aviation what The Man Who Loved Only Numbers did for mathematics. Similar books: The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert Asprey Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien The Black Count by Tom Reiss The Reign Of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert Asprey The Wright Brothers by David McCullough Josephine by Carolly Erickson Napoleon by Paul Johnson Athenais by Lisa Hilton To the Scaffold by Carolly Erickson Marie Antoinette by Evelyne Lever Ambition and Desire by Kate Williams Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda Madame de Pompadour by Evelyne Lever The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel Rocket Men by Robert Kurson