Last Updated on July 1, 2023
Charlestown resident Paul Rao will review The Wright Brothers by David McCullough [New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015] on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 7 PM in the Auditorium.
Wilbur and Orville Wright, The Wright Brothers, were perhaps the most unassuming, uncomplicated and undistracted American heroes in our history. These solemn-looking loners from Dayton spectacularly triumphed over the perception that they were merely bonkers. “We couldn’t help thinking they were just a pair of poor nuts,” a resident of Kitty Hawk, NC., would recall, about seeing the Wright Brothers stand for hours watching giant seabirds as they soared over the beach.
They would flap along, using their own wrists and elbows to learn the motion of the birds’ wings. They were studying the art of flying from God’s natural aerial experts.
Wilbur reveals the secret sauce: “If I were giving a young man advice on how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick out a good father and mother and begin life in Ohio.” Dayton Ohio was the leading manufacturer in the US at the time. This is not just a book about the magic of flight, but an in depth master class on a close knit family led by Bishop Wright. His daughter, Kathleen, an Oberlin College graduate, taught school and mentored her eccentric brothers. Wilbur and Orville made a living early on fixing and fabricating bicycles. This is a story of unbelievable vision, determination, and persistence. They were able to make a newfangled flying machine, an air bike, that pierced the clouds forever. What a story!
Author David McCullough was a popular Historian who was a two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and The National Book Award. In 2006, he was given The Presidential Medal of Freedom, The United States’ highest civilian award. Books of note: Truman, John Adams and 1976.
Resident Paul Rao PhD, a retired healthcare executive, was Chief Operating Officer at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington DC. Rao will review this historical biography and offer opinions on these two unique characters. He will invite audience impressions on a host of startling questions about how these remarkably focused brothers found their wings.