When the China Clipper shattered aviation records on its maiden six-day flight from California to the Orient in 1935; the flying boat became an instant celebrity. This lively history by Robert Gandt traces the development of the great flying boats as both a triumph of technology and a stirring human drama. He examines the political; military; and economic forces that drove its development and explains the aeronautical advances that made the aircraft possible. To fully document the story he includes interviews with flying boat pioneers and a dynamic collection of photographs; charts; and cutaway illustrations.
#392383 in Books NYRB Classics 2008-10-21 2008-10-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .75 x 5.15l; .75 #File Name: 1590172825200 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Russian Winter saves the nation.By Donald ScottThe narrative about the defeat and routing of Napoleon's Grand Army is graceful and detailed. Segur's understanding of Napoleon's fears; anxieties; superstitions; his temerity yet hesitant; erratic decisions facing well-concealed doubts is an extraordinary personal history of a man fate has abandonned amidst bad judgments and declining competence. Nappy is a fallen hero here; someone we can scarcely reconcile with his glorious cinnamon-colored marble tomb in Invalides in Paris. While the reader follows the movement of troops on opposing sides; overwhelming these manoeuvres is the accursed winter ice and snow and minus temperatures devastating the strongest as the wounded and setting the stage as the true enemy of every living soul in Russia. Yearning to return to France and its benign climate was the companiable hope of every French soldier awake or asleep; a vision that disolved in a petrifying glacial death at the hands of nature. This Russian campaign stands alongside monumental invsions of classical times.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Chilling (no pun intended) Eyewitness AccountBy R. J. MarsellaWritten by a member of Napoleon's staff ; Defeat is one of the most compelling books I've read in a long time. The Grand Armee advances through Russia all the way to Moscow and occupies the city as it is being abandoned and burned by the Russians themselves. The Czar decides to destroy his own capital to avoid Russian peasants joining the French. Then the Russian winter sets in as Napoleon begins the slow dreadful retreat. The retreat and withdrawal prove disastrous on a scale that almost defies belief. Yet De Segur witnessed and records every grim detail in this remarkable book written a few years later. The translation is excellent and the book flows like a novel. For anyone in interested in military history and the Napoleonic wars this is indispensable.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A military memoir about the most incredible disaster to ever destroy an armyBy T. M. TealeI've heard of authors appearing in court to defend their literary art; but Count Philippe-Paul de Segur risked his life twice: first; during the deadly Russian Campaign itself when; as personal aide to Napoleon; he wrote down his observations while men dropped dead all around him; then; the second time; after the resulting memoir was published in 1824; an intimate friend of Napoleon thought Segur was too critical of the fallen emperor and challenged him to a duel; during which the author was wounded. While Segur had been loyal to Napoleon right up to Waterloo; apparently for some readers; he should not have acknowledged the good qualities of the Russians; nor should he have drawn such a detailed portrait of Napoleon under pressure.While you can read for yourself how the French emperor and his most brilliant Marshals and officers were drawn deep into Russia; then defeated by the winter and harried out of the vast country by an steady flow of Russian troops and resources; there are three things that stand out to me. First of all; Segur was familiar with the craft of writing; how to take the facts and shape them concisely for a purpose. He knew how to use the actual battle scenes; the entry into Moscow; and Napoleon's temperament to develop his plot; to turn each scene lyrically. Obviously; Segur began his memoir with the end in mind; namely; to illustrate one of history's greatest lessons about one nation attacking another. People loved Napoleon; but Segur concludes; ". . . this great man in those great circumstances was unable to subdue nature . . . . certain mistakes were made; which were punished by abysmal suffering;" Segur continues. "On this ocean of disaster; I have erected a melancholy beacon with a lurid beam; and if my weak hand has not been equal to the painful task; I have at least attempted to give this warning; that those who came after us may see the peril and avoid it" (289). Segur wrote with a coherent; carefully gauged purpose which he sustained throughout; thereby; making this military memoir a classic.Secondly; Segur shows why men were willing to follow Napoleon to the ends of the earth. I won't go into detail; but the Emperor must have had a seductive personality; charming manners; and a cult of celebrity built around him. Throughout the book; Segur shows us Napoleon's fine qualities as a person--yes; he had them--and many wise sayings were attributed to him. After riding through the Borodino battlefield littered with corpses; a dying soldier groaned; someone said that it is only a Russian; to which Napoleon replied; "There are no enemies after a victory; but only men!" (81).Thirdly; Segur acknowledges the fine qualities of the Russians. Previously; the French had defeated the them in Western Europe in 1805 and again in 1807; but on their own soil; in 1812; they did not crush the French when they could have--they let the winter do its horrible work. I've never heard ice on a river described to feel so cold in the reading; nor have I heard what it looks like when men living or dead slip beneath the ice to freeze in the grip of the frigid water. But--winter or not--in other scenes; the Russian troops often seemed to hold back. At one point; Segur claims that once the commanding officers noticed that the weather was defeating the French; they refrained from attacking. "Comrades; we must do them justice;" Segur writes of the Russian enemy after Moscow. In burning their own capital; "Their sacrifice was complete; without reservation or tardy regrets; and since that time they have never made any demands on us; even in our capital [Paris]; which they left unharmed" (118). Yes; two years later; in 1814; the Russians occupied Paris (with other nations) but did not take the revenge they could have. "Their reputation has remained high and spotless;" Segur concluded. Of course; he was French and he believed the Russians as a whole had not developed culturally.This astonishing account of the disintegration of an army of over half a-million men; mostly French; but from anyone willing to follow the charismatic Napoleon; is a must read for background on 19th-century literature. Of course; Tolstoy's War and Peace comes to mind; but so does Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma. The Pierre-Antoine Daru mentioned frequently as Napoleon's Minister of War was an older cousin of the writer-to-be (who was merely Henri Beyle then). Daru was a close relation of Beyle's mother and got Beyle/Stendhal his first serious government career-track job; which alas would have been fatal if the 29-year-old Beyle hadn't learned some survival skills. After I finished Segur's account; I read Beyle/Stendhal's letters which he managed to send out to friends and family during the retreat from Moscow; Beyle claims he managed to keep his sang-froid during the disaster--once you're far into the mess there's no point in whining--but lost his carriage; money; journals; everything but the clothes he wore. How one survives such military disasters is a mystery to me; but the fact that certain men still order others into battle is--if not hubris--an insane pursuit after empire.
