For the first time, nearly seventy of Wilbur and Orville Wright's published writings are brought together in a single, annotated reference. Spanning the decades from the brothers' turn-of-the-century experiments with gliders until Orville's death in 1948, the articles describe the design of their aircraft, early test flights, and camp life at Kitty Hawk. Because Wilbur's sudden death in 1912 ended any hope that the Wrights would produce a book of their own, the articles collected in this volume are their only published words.

Definitive, crisply written study tells the full story of the brothers' lives and work — from their early childhood and initial fascination with flight, the historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, more.

Chronicles the story-behind-the-story about the Wright brothers, sharing insights into the disadvantages that challenged their lives and their mechanical ingenuity.

So wrote a quiet young Ohioan in 1900, one in an ancient line of men who had wanted to fly -- men who wanted it passionately, fecklessly, hopelessly. But now, at the turn of the twentieth century, Wilbur Wright and a scattered handful of other adventurers conceived a conviction that the dream lay at last within reach, and in a headlong race across ten years and two continents, they competed to conquer the air. James Tobin, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography, has at last given this inspiring story its definitive telling. For years Wright and his younger brother, Orville, experimented in utter obscurity, supported only by their exceptional family. Meanwhile, the world watched as the imperious Samuel Langley, armed with a rich contract from the U.S. War Department and all the resources of the Smithsonian Institution, sought to scale up his unmanned models to create the first manned flying machine. But while Langley became obsessed with flight as a problem of power, the Wrights grappled with it as a problem of balance. Thus their machines took two very different paths -- his toward oblivion, theirs toward the heavens.

The 22-book American Milestone series is featured as "Retailers Recommended Fabulous Products" in the August 2012 edition of Educational Dealer magazine. The story of the Wright Brothers is one of dreams and destiny. Some people just ask, "What if?" Orville and Wilbur asked all the questions - and learned all the answers - to "What if we could fly?" The boys ignored criticism to stay focused on their dream. They turned temporary failures into stepping stones to success. You could say they had the Wright Stuff! What would the world be like today without the dreams, ingenuity and hard work of two boys from Dayton, Ohio ... two men who went to Kitty Hawk and stepped out into the sky? A partial list of the Table of Contents include: A Timeline of Events Two Brothers, One Dream: Let's Fly! The Wright Stuff? Bicycles Built by Tow! Birds, Bees, Kites, Trees! Building on History! The Struggle with Science! It Happened at Kitty Hawk! Two Days That Were Different in the History of Flight And Much More!

The nail-biting account of the Wright brothers' secret flights at Kitty Hawk and their unexpected rise to fame Despite their great achievements following their first powered flights in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright still enjoyed virtual anonymity until 1908. In seven crucial days in May of that year, however, the eyes of the world were suddenly cast upon them as they sought lucrative government contracts for their flying technology and then had to prove the capabilities of their machines. In these pivotal moments, the brothers were catapulted into unwanted worldwide fame as the international press discovered and followed their covert flight tests, and reported their every move using rudimentary telegraphs and early forms of photography. From the brothers' rise to fame on the historic Outer Banks, to the quickly expanding role of the world press and the flights' repercussions in war and military technology, Tise weaves a fascinating tale of a key turning point in the history of flight.