Gregory Crouch

William Langhorne Bond (November 12, 1893- July 17, 1985) From 1931 until 1948 he was operations manager and vice-president of China National Aviation Corporation (First for Curtiss-Wright Corp, then Pan Am).
real-life saga of the flying band of brothers who opened the skies over China in the years leading up to World War II--and boldly safeguarded them during that conflict--China's Wings is one of the most exhilarating untold chapters in the annals of flight.

At the center of the maelstrom is the book's courtly, laconic protagonist, American aviation executive William Langhorne Bond. In search of adventure, he arrives in Nationalist China in 1931, charged with turning around the turbulent nation's flagging airline business, the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC).… (mehr)

Exceptional. Packed full of interesting detail. I knew none of this. I appreciated, too, Crouch's clear pointers to references and maps.

> Before they walked the last few yards into the new camp, O'Brien asked Mackay if he had any money about his clothes. Mackay said that he didn't have a cent. Thinking they ought to walk into the new camp penniless, "like gentlemen," O'Brien fished his last fifty-cent piece from a pocket and heaved it down the hillside into the sagebrush

> Comstockers had feet on the brain. They talked feet, worked feet, traded feet, jumped feet, ate and drank feet, bought and sold feet, consolidated feet, thought feet, slept feet, and dreamed feet. "Centipedes" and "millipedes" roamed the streets of Virginia City

> the cable cars' roots reach back to the hoists that once served the Comstock mines.… (mehr)

5709 The Bonanza King John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in )the American West, by Gregory Crouch (read 3 Oct 2020) This is a well researched book which tells of John Mackay, who was born 28 Nov 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, grew up in a New York slum, became a miner in Nevada, and gained great wealth from the Comstock lode. The book tells much about the technicalities of deep mining (more than I really wanted to know) and of the success of Mackay who by his hard work and honesty became probably the richest mine owner in the West. He died 20 July 1902. I found the early part of the book heavy in explaining mining but as the book proceeded to relate the trials and triumphs of Maclay it became quite engrossing. Maclay did not get involved in politics and I have a great interest in such and so the book lacked an aspect which I would have liked to have seen covered in greater detail. But Mackay was an admirable person--though he spent money in what I thought excessive ways. The book has no bibliography but such is online. ( I noted the author often uses contractions not often seen in serious books (such as 'they'd' for "they had" or "they would"--it is understandable but I have seen such in serious non-fiction so seldom it was distracting, I thought.)… (mehr)