Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Rise of the Jetliner Industry: Eugene Rodgers
Editorial Reviews
As the longtime leader in a predominantly American industry, the Boeing Corporation has experienced a tumultuous succession of ups and downs. In Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Rise of the Jetliner Industry, author and former university instructor Eugene Rodgers parlays the unusual access he was given to the aircraft firm’s internal archives and primary figures into a perceptive, comprehensive behind-the-scenes account of one of this century’s most noteworthy companies.
From Publishers Weekly
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.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.