The year 1903 is one of the most important in American history, for that was when Orville and Wilbur Wright first tried out their "flying machine" on the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. One of the five incredulous onlookers asked the two brothers how long they'd been working on "that thing". Their answer was, "All our lives". And that was true.

When Wilbur was eleven and Orville was seven, they made their own sled—not just a copy of the sleds the other boys had, but a new kind that was faster and better. After that, they were always making things, and whenever they made anything they added new features that no one had ever thought of before. And always they thought about flying some day.

The story of how these two Americans—who made their living running a bicycle shop—invented, built and flew the first airplane while the greatest scientists in the world were still speculating whether it could be done, is one of the most thrilling in history.

Today we take airplanes for granted. In this warmly human story of the two brothers from Dayton, Ohio who proved to themselves and to the world that man could fly, Quentin Reynolds brings home to us how truly wonderful was their accomplishment.

From the book