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A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 1998
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A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 1998;
Los Angeles Times Book Review, Michael Frank, 20 December
1998
Compact, written in short paragraphs and spare sentences,
this brief volume tells the story of the Brazilian-born
balloonist and aviator who during the first decade of the
century was believed to be, and widely celebrated as, the
first man to fly. It amounts to a gesture of poignant archeology
as Nancy Winters excavates a human story that has been buried
by the irrevocable advance of history.
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Newsweek, 14 December 1998
The way-cool alternative to Scott Berg's best-selling "Lindbergh"
is Nancy Winters's "Man Flies," the story of fin de siecle
dandy Alberto Santos-Dumont--the first Cartier wristwatch
was designed for him--who grew up on Jules Verne, motorized
a balloon and cruised the Paris skies.
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Christian Science Monitor, 10 September 1998
Her book is gracefully told and stylishly published in
a small, Art Deco edition. Winters scatters the tale with
interesting anecdotes and wonderful photos. With an appeal
across the board, this is a flying success.
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| "This is not a history of flight. Nor even of ballooning.
It is the story of one small, courageous, stubborn, stylish,
and ultimately tragic man. It is not so much a story of science
as a story of dreams" (from the Author's Note). It was for
Alberto Santos-Dumont, who could not check his pocket watch
because he was using both hands to steer the balloon, that
Louis Cartier, in 1901, created the first wristwatch. The
youngest son of a Brazilian millionaire, he grew up on an
isolated coffee plantation devouring (and believing) the novels
of Jules Verne. By the age of eighteen, he was living in Paris,
at the height of the Belle Epoque, heir to a huge fortune
and determined to make his dreams of flying come true. A renowned
playboy, dining at Maxim's nightly and setting new styles
in fashion, he at first frequently crashed his yellow silk
airships into the trees of wealthy friends, such as the Rothchilds,
who would set up champagne lunches for him to enjoy during
repairs. But soon he was winning prestigious prizes and being
hailed as "the conqueror of the air." Internationally acclaimed
as the first man to fly, he was feted for several years in
Europe and America--where he was received at the White House
by Teddy Roosevelt--before learning that the Wright Brothers,
whose early efforts had been discounted, had actually preceded
him. "Man Flies" tells the tragic, glamorous story of Alberto
Santos-Dumont's career, and later illness, and how this brilliant,
colorful, and eccentric pioneer slipped through the cracks
of aviation history while his inventions and imagination continue
to inspire it. "Man Flies" includes black-and-white photographs
throughout, an illustrated chronology of the airships, a chronology
of the life of Santos-Dumont, and an illustrated glossary
of ballooning terms. |
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