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A review by muhly22
Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies by Lawrence Goldstone
3.0
As a lawyer, one thing I've seen a number of times (in a short career so far) is people becoming too emotionally invested in cases that are primarily or solely economic. When a good deal is on the table, they won't take it out of some desire to "prove" the other party is the bad guy. That's the primary thing that I took away from this book: Wilbur and Orville Wright were consumed by their emotional need to prove that Glenn Curtiss had stolen from them.
In the Epilogue, Goldstone pointed out that the Wright-Curtiss battle persists to this day, through proxies: people who support one faction or the other. Goldstone takes great pains to point out the ways in which the planes made by Curtiss differ from the Wright Flyers, leaving no doubt as to his view in that debate.
Not that he's on the wrong side. Curtiss continued to innovate throughout his life; the Wrights decided to halt innovating and pursue legal actions. I'm a lawyer, so trust me on this: lawsuits are draining. They drag on, they last a long time, and patent cases seem to be worse than other kinds of lawsuit. Wilbur (and Orville, though less so) was an incredible innovator. What he could have accomplished if he hadn't decided to shut the process down in favor of draining lawsuits boggles the mind, though the list of Curtiss's accomplishments might provide a guideline.
Goldstone tried to do too much with this book; it was unfocused. Sometimes he'd discuss innovations that were being made in aviation; sometimes he'd discuss the daring feats of various aviators; sometimes he'd discuss legal angles; sometimes he'd discuss public relations battles. Nor did Goldstone restrict himself to the Wright-Curtiss battle; he spent a lot of pages on foreign aviators that were peripheral to the story that was supposed to be the central story.
In the Epilogue, Goldstone pointed out that the Wright-Curtiss battle persists to this day, through proxies: people who support one faction or the other. Goldstone takes great pains to point out the ways in which the planes made by Curtiss differ from the Wright Flyers, leaving no doubt as to his view in that debate.
Not that he's on the wrong side. Curtiss continued to innovate throughout his life; the Wrights decided to halt innovating and pursue legal actions. I'm a lawyer, so trust me on this: lawsuits are draining. They drag on, they last a long time, and patent cases seem to be worse than other kinds of lawsuit. Wilbur (and Orville, though less so) was an incredible innovator. What he could have accomplished if he hadn't decided to shut the process down in favor of draining lawsuits boggles the mind, though the list of Curtiss's accomplishments might provide a guideline.
Goldstone tried to do too much with this book; it was unfocused. Sometimes he'd discuss innovations that were being made in aviation; sometimes he'd discuss the daring feats of various aviators; sometimes he'd discuss legal angles; sometimes he'd discuss public relations battles. Nor did Goldstone restrict himself to the Wright-Curtiss battle; he spent a lot of pages on foreign aviators that were peripheral to the story that was supposed to be the central story.