(p. 11) It’s been nearly half a century since David McCullough published “The Johnstown Flood,” which initiated his career as our matchless master of popular history. His 10th book, “The Wright Brothers,” has neither the heft of his earlier volumes nor, in its intense focus on a short period in its subjects’ lives, the grandness of vision that made those works as ambitious as they were compelling. Yet this is nonetheless unmistakably McCullough: a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency.
. . .
David McCullough is interested in only one thing, namely how it was possible that two autodidacts from Ohio managed to satisfy a longing that the species had harbored for centuries. “The Wright Brothers” is merely this: a story, well told, about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished. As the comic Louis C.K. has said, reprovingly, to those who complain about the inconveniences and insults of modern air travel: “You’re sitting. In a chair. In the SKY!!”
Which is saying a lot. On its own terms, “The Wright Brothers” soars.
For the full review, see:
DANIEL OKRENT. “‘The Aviators.” The New York Times Book Review (Sun., MAY 10, 2015): 11.
(Note: ellipses internal to paragraph, in original; ellipsis between paragraphs, added.)
(Note: the online version of the review has the date MAY 4, 2015, and has the title “‘The Wright Brothers,’ by David McCullough.”)
The book under review, is:
McCullough, David. The Wright Brothers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015.