http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/957702763

The Wright stuff the life of Orville and Wilbur Wright

On August 8th, 1908, at a race track outside Paris, Wilbur Wright executed what was, for him, a routine flight: a smooth take-off banking into a couple of tight circles, finally ending in a perfect landing. The easy flight was over in less than two minutes, but it established Wilbur and Orville Wright as the true leaders of manned flight. In 1903, the Wrights had solved one of the most baffling mysteries of science, but characteristically kept their invention secret, awaiting patents on various components. As others developed flying machines, newspapers vilified the shy and self-effacing Wright brothers as "bluffers." After the Paris flight, the Wrights were vindicated, but were completely unprepared for the ensuing fame. Following Wilbur's spectacular Paris flight, a group of awestruck enthusiasts insisted on taking him out for the best meal the city had to offer, but Wilbur declined. By nine that evening he was in bed, on a cot beside his plane. This is a quintessential American story about two ordinary men, working alone, who reshaped the twentieth century. Garrison Keillor narrates.

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