Anybody know American lit dealing with aviation, space aviation, etc.?
For my combined history and english final, we have to pick a topic or period in American history and make a theme park out of it, drawn on poster board. I chose aviation as a topic. 15 attractions have to be based on history, while 5 must be based on American fine arts (3 of which being literature). So far i've thought of Fitzpatrick's War and Flyboys. Can anyone give me some ideas and briefly explain the storyline/tie-in to aviation (without giving away the plot totally)? Thanks in advance.
Public Comments
- Well, the movie October Sky is based on the book "Rocket Boys" by Homer Hickam. It's about a boy with dreams of becoming a rocket scientist. He and his friends build rockets and then test them, trying to build the "perfect" rocket. Eventually they enter the science fair.... Good luck!! And if you need more, I would suggest finding a space geeky (ok, not geeky...one of my best friends is one of these!) person who knows about all things space and is on their way to becoming an astronaut. Good luck!
- Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee has a main character who flies his own small plane. He uses the plane as an escape from his everyday life, which is rife with interpersonal relationship failures. It's a quietly well-written book. Some people in my book club really liked it and the metaphor of flying used throughout and some thought not enough happened plot-wise.
- "The Right Stuff" an awesome book about pilots and the early days of NASA.
- Why not The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles Lindbergh? Since he was a barnstormer as well as an aviation explorer, you could get a lot of rides out of it. He also did scientific research which you might make a ride - touring the human heart. Good luck.
