@article{1479446,
      recid = {1479446},
      author = {Van Vleck, Jenifer,},
      title = {Empire of the Air : Aviation and the American Ascendancy  /},
      pages = {1 online resource :},
      abstract = {Jenifer Van Vleck's fascinating history reveals the  central role commercial aviation played in the United  States' ascent to global preeminence in the twentieth  century. As U.S. military and economic influence grew, the  federal government partnered with the aviation industry to  deliver American power across the globe and to sell the  idea of the "American Century" to the public at home and  abroad. The airplane promised to extend the frontiers of  the United States "to infinity," as Pan American World  Airways president Juan Trippe said. As it accelerated the  global circulation of U.S. capital, consumer goods,  technologies, weapons, popular culture, and expertise, few  places remained distant from Wall Street and Washington.  Aviation promised to secure a new type of empire--an empire  of the air instead of the land, which emphasized access to  markets rather than the conquest of territory and made the  entire world America's sphere of influence. By the late  1960s, however, foreign airlines and governments were  challenging America's control of global airways, and the  domestic aviation industry hit turbulent times. Just as the  history of commercial aviation helps to explain the  ascendance of American power, its subsequent challenges  reflect the limits and contradictions of the American  Century.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1479446},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674726246},
}