Joseph J. Corn is a senior lecturer in the department of history at Stanford University. He is the co-author of
Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future, available from Johns Hopkins.
Review
"Joseph Corn's lively and readable book... is well organized and written, thoroughly researched in primary
documentation, and richly anecdotal and fascinating. Here are gathered the couples wedded in the air, the designers
of automobiles that fly, the prophets of peace and prosperity--the true believers... in the millennium of flight."
--Alex Roland, Isis
"Corn exploits a wide assortment of books, periodicals, and cultural symbols and is adept at extrapolating
evidence to support his thesis that aviation became something of a secular religion, promoting both prosperity
and harmony. The author's enthusiasm for his topic is infectious."
--Roger E. Bilstein, Journal of American History
"A lively study."
--Wall Street Journal
Publisher Web Site, January, 2003
Summary
From the day when two bicycle mechanics made the first flight at Kitty Hawk until the end of World War II, Americans
invested extraordinary hope in airplanes, expecting them to revolutionize daily life and transform the world. For
many, the flying machine became a virtual god. Exploring these early years of aviation, Joseph Corn describes the
fascinating, and often bizarre, plans for the future of manned flight (including the Depression-era dream of "an
airplane in every garage") and brings back to life the famous and lesser-known aviators who became American
heroes--Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Calbraith P. Rodgers, and many others. Rich in colorful detail, The
Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation provides a vivid picture of America in the first half of the century
and the exuberant and often utopian response to a major new technology.
Table of Contents
Preface to The Johns Hopkins Edition
Preface to the Original Edition
I "The Moment of Miracle" : Americans Greet the Airplane
II "A New Sign in the Heavens" : The Prophetic Creed of Flight
III "Let Your Airmindedness be Shown Forth Among Men" : Evangelizing for Aviation
IV Making Flying "Thinkable" : Women Pilots and the Selling of Aviation
V "An Airplane in Every Garage?" The Gospel's Most Pervasive Promise
VI Adults and the "Winged Superchildren of Tomorrow"
VII Epilogue
