This morning, Rudy Maxa, aka “The Savvy Traveler,” posted a nice review of China’s Wings in the “Travel Minute” section of his website in which he calls China’s Wings “a riveting book.”
I did a short radio interview with him about China’s Wings on March 3. Rudy has it posted as a podcast and our China’s Wings conversation starts just after minute 24:00, and runs through minute 30:00.
Here’s the full text of what Rudy said in his China’s Wings Travel Minute:
If you’re fascinated by aviation and history, I’d like to tell you about a new book I think you’ll enjoy. It’s a compelling account of the early days of flight in China and the rise of Pan American Airways.
The book is called China’s Wings, and its subtitle gives a hint to what’s between the covers: “War, intrigue, romance, and adventure in the Middle Kingdom during the Golden Age of flight.”
It’s written by journalist Gregory Crouch whose previous book, Enduring Patagonia, described from a climber’s point of view the rugged landscape of Patagonia in South America.
This time Crouch turns his attention to Asia before World War II, when the Nationalist Chinese, the Japanese, and American aviation interests were clawing for control of that part of the world. His main character is William Langhorne Bond, an American who arrives in China to help organize China’s national airline. But war intrudes, and when the Japanese capture Burma and cut off China’s only overland supply route, Bond and his colleagues must fly over the Hump–the Himalayas–to supply fighters.
It’s a riveting book made richer by Bond’s letters from which Crouch was allowed to draw. China’s Wings. At Amazon.com and in stores.
