About the book: 2017 / At the beginning of the 20th century, humanity was gripped by “flight fever” - a passionate desire to finally realize the centuries-old dream of controlled flight. The governments of the United States and European countries spent huge sums on programs to create the first powered aircraft. Meanwhile, in a small American town in Ohio, two sons of a local bishop were building their own flying car with their own small funds. The story of how humble college-dropout bicycle shop owners designed and tested the world's first controllable airplane, told by Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award winner David McCullough. Orville and Wilbur Wright became interested in flying after meeting a French children's toy, similar to a “helicopter” with two propellers and a rubber band. Curiosity, an inquisitive mind, reading books and a passion for flying helped the Wright brothers design the first flyable airplane. In a book full of biographical and historical details, the reader will learn how the Wright brothers observed birds and why this experience was necessary when testing the first gliders in the inconspicuous Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks, how failure only spurred a final determination to fly, and how four Flyer flights in December 1903 changed the course of human history..