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Wright Sister
Little in this book relates to the actual construction of the first airplanes, as many biographies about the Wrights do. Rather, this account of Katharine Wright, beloved sister and partner to her brothers, paints an intimate portrait of life in the Wright household. It follows through the tragic loss of Katharine's mother in childhood, her fleeting tastes of freedom at college, her independent career, her partnership with her brothers, and to the end of her life. In doing so, it also conveys a great sense of what everyday life was like for many in the U.S. during the crossover of the 19th and 20th centuries. If Orville and Wilbur had the minds for mechanics, then Katharine had the adeptness for management and sociability. In addition to her steadfast caretaking of the family, she was instrumental in helping her brothers run their businesses and form important professional connections. Besides her life, this book gives a unique behind-the-scenes look at the brothers and their relationship to the public. 127 pgs, pb.
Not many people know that the Wright brothers had a sister, Katharine Wright. She supported her high-flying, inventor brothers through their aviation triumphs and struggles. This is her story.
On a chill December day in 1903, a young woman came home from her teaching job in Dayton, Ohio, to find a telegram waiting for her. The woman was Katharine Wright; the telegram, from her brother Orville, announced the first successful airplane flight in history. In this, the first authoritative biography of the Wright brothers' sister, Richard Maurer tells Katharine's story. Smart and well-educated, she was both confidant and caregiver to her bachelor brothers, managing many of their affairs, traveling with them on frequent trips to demonstrate and promote their invention, and caring for them when they were sick from disease and injury. In doing so, she gave up her ambitions as a teacher and her early hopes of marriage. Only in middle age, when the Wrights' fame and fortune were secure, did she find personal happiness, with a man she had met years before in college—something that was to cost her the affection of her surviving brother Orville, who had come to depend on her, and who disowned her after her marriage.
Product Format: | Paperback |
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Brand: | Square Fish |
Author: | Richard Maurer |
Grades: | 5-9 |
ISBN: | 9781250073433 |
Length in Inches: | 8 |
Width in Inches: | 6 |
Height in Inches: | 0.25 |
Weight in Pounds: | 0.55 |