Among the many virtues of John Lancaster’s delightful The Great Air Race is how vividly it conveys the entirely different world of aviation at the dawn of the industry, a century ago.

Although the race took place during peacetime, Lancaster is in solid military-history territory as he recounts Mitchell’s background and discusses aviation success during WWI and the plan to use the race to prove that airplanes would be essential to the military of the future. The race itself was fraught with peril, and the author recounts in great detail the inherent struggles of trying to fly cross-country when there were no navigational aids, and the weather could prove deadly. In the end, there were numerous crashes, injuries, and fatalities, and Lancaster covers all of it, making for thrilling reading. The book also includes outstanding photographs. An excellent read for those interested in aviation, the military, and American history..

... a compelling book that succeeds by giving this chapter in history its due without overselling its significance.

In this well-researched text, Lancaster delivers an expert description of the planes (mostly ex–WWI fighters) and biographies of the volunteers, and he devotes more than half of the story to the precise details of the race.

Revealing early in the book that the three-week race ended at sunset on Halloween with the shocking toll of nine dead, Lancaster also takes on its historical context, wrestling with the question of whether the spectacle served any real purpose.

... energetic and entertaining.