What was the world like when the Wright Brothers make the first
sustained, powered flight? Most of us are familiar with the year
(1903) and the place (the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk), but what
allowed Wilbur and Orville to accomplish this feat? How did they
succeed where better funded efforts had failed? The Bishop’s
Boys: A life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch, answers
those questions and literally transports the reader back to the
decades before and after the introduction of powered
flight—setting the stage for the airplanes we enjoy today. This
story is not a quick read, unless you do nothing else for a
couple days straight. The 529 page account is broken into three
sections. The first introduces us to the Wright
family–particularly Wilbur and Orville’s father, Milton, who had
a profound influence on their lives. Milton was a dedicated
church man, who rose to the rank of Bishop in the Church of the
United Brethren. In this capacity, he spent much time on the
road. Also a devoted family man, he cor