- 337 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
The vivid account of the young Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I, told in their own words.
The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the voices and words of the aviators themselves.
A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky. By drawing on the letters sent home, diaries kept, and memoirs published in the years that followed, he brings to life their emotions, anxieties, and triumphs. They gasp in wonder at the world seen from a plane, struggle to keep their hands from freezing in open-air cockpits, party with actresses and aristocrats, rest of Voltaire's castle, and search for their friends' bodies on the battlefield. The young pilots' romantic war becomes more than that—a harsh but often thrilling reality. Weaving together their testimonies, The Unsubstantial Air is a moving portrait of a generation coming of age under new and extreme circumstances.
Praise for The Unsubstantial Air
"Samuel Hynes is simultaneously a great gift to his complicated country and to our English language. He vividly brings to life our earliest air warriors and does so with a seemingly effortless but exhilarating prose that soars in much the same way his aviators do. Masterful." —Ken Burns
"A beautifully written evocation of the Ivy Leaguers, farm boys, and wild men who flew avions de chasse from (mainly) French airfields, based on their letters, flight diaries and memories." —Roy Foster, The Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year (2014)
The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the voices and words of the aviators themselves.
A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky. By drawing on the letters sent home, diaries kept, and memoirs published in the years that followed, he brings to life their emotions, anxieties, and triumphs. They gasp in wonder at the world seen from a plane, struggle to keep their hands from freezing in open-air cockpits, party with actresses and aristocrats, rest of Voltaire's castle, and search for their friends' bodies on the battlefield. The young pilots' romantic war becomes more than that—a harsh but often thrilling reality. Weaving together their testimonies, The Unsubstantial Air is a moving portrait of a generation coming of age under new and extreme circumstances.
Praise for The Unsubstantial Air
"Samuel Hynes is simultaneously a great gift to his complicated country and to our English language. He vividly brings to life our earliest air warriors and does so with a seemingly effortless but exhilarating prose that soars in much the same way his aviators do. Masterful." —Ken Burns
"A beautifully written evocation of the Ivy Leaguers, farm boys, and wild men who flew avions de chasse from (mainly) French airfields, based on their letters, flight diaries and memories." —Roy Foster, The Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year (2014)
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Yes, you can access The Unsubstantial Air by Samuel Hynes in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Prologue: A Fire Beyond the Horizon
- 1. An Occupation for Gentlemen
- 2. The Ivy League Air Force
- 3. Going
- 4. Abroad I: First Impressions
- 5. Driving the Machine
- 6. The Pleasurable Sensation of Flying
- 7. Waiting for the War
- 8. How to Fight
- 9. This Killing Business
- 10. Abroad II: Getting Acquainted
- 11. In Pursuit
- 12. Looking at the War
- 13. A Short History of Bombing
- 14. Summer: 1918
- 15. September: St. Mihiel
- 16. Abroad III: End Games
- 17. The Last Battle
- 18. November Eleventh
- 19. Afterwards
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- Also by Samuel Hynes
- Praise for The Unsubstantial Air
- A Note About the Author
- Copyright