Aloft - (Vintage Departures) by William Langewiesche (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The most lyrical and incisive book on flying revised, expanded, and updated--from the author of Inside the Sky. - With an Introduction by John Banville.

In these essays, William Langewiesche considers how flying has altered not only how we move about the earth, but also how we view our world and our place in it. With vivid descriptions of the aesthetics and excitement of flight, he also writes of the risks that go with this beauty: the perils of air traffic control, and the dangers of nervous passengers and bad weather. Full of spare and elegant prose, Aloft is a fascinating journey into the sky.

Review Quotes

"At once thrilling and informative, awe-inspiring and exact, in places frightening, in other reassuring, and always elegant." --Booker Prize-winning author John Banville

"A sharp observer and gifted stylist whose sentences often have a kind of poetic precision." --The Washington Post

"Langewiesche's prose flows seamlessly and elegantly." --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"[A] formidable talent ... whose cool, precise and economical reporting is harnessed to an invigorating moral and intellectual perspective." --The New York Times

About the Author

William Langewiesche is the author of seven previous books Cutting for Sign, Sahara Unveiled, Inside the Sky, American Ground, The Outlaw Sea, The Atomic Bazaar, and, most recently, Fly By Wire. He is the international editor for Vanity Fair.