Pendulum II: The Story of America's Three Aviation Pioneers: Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and Glenn Curtiss Paperback – June 1, 2003

A thick book, thouh a paperback book with unique content.

The author did not so much write this book as compile it. Mostly clips from letters, diaries, advertisements, newspaper articles that show the early history of the development of the airplane. If you think the Wright brothers invented the airplane rather than a dangerous, dead-end flying machine, prepare to be disappointed. If you don't know who Glenn Curtiss was and what his legacy was, prepare to be enlightened.

This is an in depth read about the early years of aviation in America and should be taken from that point of view. Numerous facts are set forth for the reader's consideration so this book will not be a short term endeavor. I enjoyed this book because it gives as much historical accuracy as possible and lets you decide what really took place at the time.

This is an unfortunate collaboration of a great idea. Much research has been done for this book, however, it is not reader friendly. The preface is good, not excellent, from their it goes decidedly down hill. The author, or publisher, has failed to extract all of this information and bring it to a readable format. It is a compilation of data, time lined and thrown together. The pictures are too numerous and mostly unreadable unless one has a magnifying glass. I would hope the author would rewrite in a more readable and concise fashion. This will take a lot of work.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in early aviation. Through extensive use of primary source quotations, this book shows some of what was really going on during those years. We have been led astray by Smithsonian which has promoted the Wrights as first in flight and with the development of the airplane. Pendulum shows this is not the case, it is a negotiated legend built up. Glenn Curtiss did not get the respect he deserved for fighting the Wrights on their attempt to monopolize and stall the development of world aviation. Excellent variety of photographs, too, ones you'll not see elsewhere. I do wish the font was larger though, recommend if second printing that this be done. That is the only reason for the 4 stars vs. 5. I loved this book!