Dirigible Dreams (C. Michael Hiam)

Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship
C. Michael Hiam
ForeEdge
Nonfiction, History
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: From our earliest days, humans have dreamed of flight, but only in the late nineteenth century did powered, controlled flight become a possibility. Innovations soon transformed primitive balloons into semi-rigid and rigid dirigibles, used for everything from war to luxury global cruises to polar exploration. For a brief, shining moment, it seemed these lighter-than-air ships might conquer the skies... until the tragic wreck of the Hindenburg spelled the end of commercial dirigible dreams. Or did it? Author Hiam explores the rise, heyday, and fall of these popular airships.

REVIEW: Dirigibles are more often found in steampunk tales than the skies these days, but at one time they were the bleeding edge of aeronautical technology, combining powered flight with lighter-than-air transport. Hiam's book looks back at the earliest pioneers of this inherently dangerous mode of travel, examining the often-eccentric people who popularized the dirigible airship, often through audacious stunts that were at least as likely to be disasters as successes. The ships themselves almost take on personalities as described here, each with their assets and liabilities, prone to spectacular failure. When they worked, they worked well - but they often seemed plagued by technology issues, capricious weather, or just plain bad luck. Hiam bookends his account with the legendary Hindenburg inferno of May 1937, which encapsulated in the public mind all that was to be feared about dirigible travel and pretty much put the nail in the coffin of widespread commercial investment in rigid airships... but they are not dead yet, and many still are convinced that the drawbacks to the mode of transportation can be overcome with advances in technology and sheer human ingenuity, convinced they can still answer many needs of today and tomorrow.
As someone who reads the odd steampunk tale and is somewhat curious, I consider this not a bad account of the airship's real-world history, though it runs a little dry at times, with names tending to jumble. That, plus a lack of information on the possible future of airships (merely hinted at in the closing lines), cost it a solid Good rating, though it's still worth a read if you're interested in the history of airships... or interested in writing about them.

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