Chicago: City of Flight (IL) (Images of America) Review

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(More customer reviews)Chicago has been an aviation hub almost since the beginning of flight. Being an aviation buff, and contributor to aviation books, I was quite surprised at this book.
Typical of Arcadia Press, the book is a collection of illustrations with captions but no actual text.
Many of the illustrations appear to be third or fourth generation copies as they are of poor quality. This book will either lose a lot of money for the authors because of the fortune that would need to be spent for publishing rights to these photos, or the rights were not secured. No photo credits are given (or postcards or advertisements).
I recognize many of the images. They are owned by the Chicago Historical Society, United Airlines, The Wright Brother's Estate, The Smithsonian, etc.
If you are just looking for pictures, you might like this book (despite the poor quality of many of the pictures). But if you want an actual history, you will be very disappointed. A better book would be Chicago Aviation: An Illustrated History by David Young or Chicago's Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years by Christopher Lynch.

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Since the late 1800s, Chicago has been a mecca for aviation. Chicago's Octave Chanute kept the skies filled with revolutionary gliders and his expertise in aeronautics contributed to the Wright Brothers' success. Chicago: City of Flight tells the story of aviation in the city with exciting chapters on early "birdmen," the birth of Chicago as a major airmail center, the spectacular chills and thrills of international airports and airplane manufacturers, and airlines, such as United Airlines, that were born in the city. Later topics include the city's modern aerospace industry and an exclusive look at Chicago's Wright Redux project, members of which designed and manufactured a replica Wright flyer. They plan to fly it over the city on December 17, 2003, in celebration of 100 years of manned, powered flight.

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