Aviation Pioneers

If We Had Wings: The Enduring Dream of Flight is a 32-page hardcover pop-up book that documents man's dream of flying and his historic pursuit of getting airborne. Rinker Buck's book includes documents, newspaper clippings and photographs of aviation's brave pioneers-the practical dreamers who couldn't keep their feet on the ground. Buck's book personalizes aviation's metamorphosis through first-person accounts, letters, ID cards and luggage tags from the "Silver Wing" era of passenger flight. Plus there's an American fighter pilot's diary pages from behind enemy lines, capturing the brave, insouciant image of the World War I fighter pilot; of the great air races of the 1930s; and an envelope containing a top secret report from Chuck Yeager's flight to break the sound barrier. Buck does a thorough job of conveying the feeling of boundless possibility fueled by the wanderlust of youth and the broader implications that flight ushered in (ISBN 0-609-60553-4/$32.50).