cover image Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Rise of the Jetliner Industry

Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Rise of the Jetliner Industry

Eugene Rodgers. Atlantic Monthly Press, $27.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-87113-655-8

Rodgers offers this book as an antidote to Robert Serling's Legend and Legacy, which he asserts was Boeing-funded. He covers Boeing's history from its founding just before WWI to the present day. His research is thorough, though the book would have been more readable had he remembered to forget many of the details. Cliches needlessly elongate sentences, as when we're told that a particular deal was done at ""cherry blossom time, the most glorious part of the year along the Potomac."" Some of the language strikes an incredulous chord: ""Boeing was already involved in the ruthless world of Washington, where the only principles held sacred seem to belong to the world of Machiavelli."" The engineering of the different aircraft, the competition, the personalities of the executives and the union disputes are all chronicled. Rodgers (Beyond the Barrier) adds a poignant coda to each chapter by incorporating the personal stories of two workers, explaining how the particular events described affected these men. (Dec.)