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Joseph J. Corn

The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950 First Edition

by Joseph J. Corn (Author)

4.1 15 ratings

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Reconstructs the early years of aviation and discusses famous and lesser-known aviators, ranging from Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to Calbraith P. Rodgers

ISBN-10

0195033566
ISBN-13

978-0195033564
Edition

First Edition
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

October 20, 1983
Language

English
Dimensions

6.38 x 0.81 x 9.5 inches
Print length

224 pages
Print length

224 pages
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; First Edition (October 20, 1983)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195033566
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195033564
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 0.81 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,817,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #209 in Analytic Chemistry (Books)
- #1,250 in Aviation History (Books)
- #1,728 in Aeronautics & Astronautics (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 15 ratings

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Jacob Turk

Aviation and Society go together like PB&J.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 15, 2014

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Did you know aviation fever infected every member of American society between the World Wars? Well after you read this book you will surely agree. This book is an excellent example of a social and cultural history of aviation. Joseph Corn uses extensive examples to prove his argument, each of which are backed by credible sources. If you want to learn how society used aviation as a tool for racial and gender reform, for example, I highly recommend this book.

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Albert A. Harrison

A True Classic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

I had seen many references to this classic and finally decided to read it for myself. I loved every word, and realize that with a few exceptions selling aviation to the public in the first half of the 20th century was a very close model for selling space to the public in the second half of that century (and even today). Extremely well organized and written, a compelling historical analysis, and full of gripping (and sometimes hilarious) anecdotes and details. High;y recommended for aviation enthusiasts, pop history buffs, and anyone who is interested in how popular history and values (including religious values) affect the development and acceptance of new technology.

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Margaret Chabrian

Interesting lesser known aviation history pieces

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

I purchased this book to help in developing a university aviation course. The book is well written with some unique not often found pieces of history. The seller sent the book quickly and in excellent condition.

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Mohamed DELLAL

An Example of Frontiers' Defiance!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

Unimaginable how things and culture change due to changes brought up by the advancing technology! What would cybertechnology bring, is not possible to imagine!

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Robin E. Moore

The early days of aviation

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 24, 2007

The Winged Gospel reconstructs America's first era of manned flight and brings back to life the famous and lesser-known aviators who became the nation's heroes: Charles Lindbergh, whose achievement was a great event of the 20s... Amelia Eahrhardt, one of the many women aces... Calbraith Rogers, who made the first transcontinental flight, surviving a dozen crashes, a broken arm and collarbone, and a score of wounds caused by the metal fragments of an exploded engine... And many others. The book provides a vivid picture of America in the first half of the century-its aspirations and concerns-as expressed in the exuberant and often utopian response to a major new technology.

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Roger D. Launius

Outstanding Analysis of the Romance of Aviation

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 2, 2005

This is a classic study of the social history of the airplane and why Americans have been so attracted to its use. First published in 1983, it is now available in this 2002 edition with a new preface. I first read "The Winged Gospel" soon after its publication and found it a path-breaking, provocative study that emphasized beliefs about the airplane held by the machine's early advocates. I recently reread it and was impressed once again by its insight and the reasonableness of its thesis.

Stanford University historian Joseph J. Corn saw "air mindedness" in the first part of the twentieth century as something akin to a secular religion. It had articles of faith, creeds, acolytes, ceremonies, and sacred relics and spaces. The ability to fly represented the opportunity to transcend the earthly realm and reach a "higher plain," something that many viewed as both romantic and religious experiences. Like all religions, secular or not, Corn concluded that airplane advocates based their ideas more on faith than on evidence.

At a fundamental level "The Winged Gospel" explores the affect of imagination on the development of American aviation, but it is much more. Almost immediately after the Wright brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Americans came to view the airplane as what Corn has characterized as a romance that espoused beliefs anticipating the social effects of aviation upon the lives of ordinary people. For example, as Corn demonstrates, early advocates of the airplane predicted that virtually all of society's ills--war, poverty, pestilence, inequality, and ignorance--could be eradicated through the employment of that technology. This "air mindedness" served as a way to improve human life while encouraging the general development of aviation in the United States. Films, books, articles, and radio broadcasts celebrated the exploits of pilots as reformers and individual heroes aligned against bureaucracy, militarism, and private greed. Aviation advocates painted a vision of the future in which millions of people would fly through the air and be liberated by the experience.

Accordingly, the airplane during the first decade of the twentieth century began to be touted as the great promise for the nation. Its advocates emphasized the wonders of a machine that allowed men to fly like birds. Some advocates said it would make war impossible, because of its ability to strike at the interior of an enemy nation and destroy its manufacturing capability. Others predicted the linking of the world together in a great net of nearly instantaneous transportation routes. A few even argued that airplanes could improve people's health and refine their aesthetic sensibilities.

Collectively, this "winged gospel" changed the world, even if it did not deliver all of the promises its early advocates hoped. Corn ends his study in 1950, but it would have been interesting to trace the vestiges of the romance of aviation to the present. It is still present at some level, no doubt, but for most Americans direct experience with airplanes is limited to commercial air transportation and those are decidedly un-romantic and non-religious experiences.

This is a powerful book and should be read by anyone interested in the history of aviation. Highly recommended.

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The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950 First Edition

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