Flying High

The Story of Boeing and the Rise
of the Jetliner Industry

By Eugene Rodgers
Atlantic Monthly Press, $27.50

ISBN 0871136554

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A soaring corporate history

Review by Michael Pellecchia

The Boeing company and former employees gave Eugene Rodgers pretty good access to documents, diaries, and the other resources he needed to create this corporate history. He starts with the birth of Bill Boeing in 1881. By the time he was 33 years old, Boeing was a millionaire and a six-year resident of Seattle. He built an airplane on a whim (having made much of his fortune in the timber business) and then turned it into a going concern. The U.S. Navy put his business on a secure footing with a fall 1917 order in the amount of $575,000. Then the war was over and the going got so tough Boeing tried to sell the company and couldn't.

He went on to build and sell airmail biplanes and fighter planes. A recurring theme is the risk of developing highly engineered vehicles at tremendous cost, not always with the guarantee of a sale. The consequence was a cycle of layoffs and hirings that to some degree mark the fortunes of the entire aircraft industry. They even lost money on government contracts when they didn't turn into mass production runs.

Rodgers supplies a story-filled narrative interspersed with analysis that sheds light for the lay reader on how this important industry works. Because of the sheer numbers of those affected by Boeing's destiny, and the impact of its operations on governments and people, its story deserves the attention of intelligent readers everywhere.

Michael Pellecchia writes about business and finance books each month He can be reached at michael_pellecchia@bookpage.com.

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