When Giants Ruled the Sky

The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

By: John J. Geoghegan

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

Nearly everything people know about airships is wrong. Few realize that prior to the Hindenburg disaster airships transported passengers without a single casualty for more than twenty years, a record unmatched by any other form of transportation. When Giants Ruled the Sky tells the true but little-known story of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world's largest, most expensive, and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. In doing so it reveals how the American airship came within a hair's breadth of replacing planes, trains, and ocean liners as the dominant form of long-distance transportation, and exactly what went wrong, a tale of physical courage, engineering acumen, ugly politicking and two egregious disasters.

©2021 John J. Geoghegan (P)2023 Tantor

Find out what really happened to these US Navy airships

You never know what to expect when start digging deeper into a subject you long thought you knew about. Most collectors of airship relics, photos, and memorabilia think they are experts, but most are really just amateurs. Elevate your knowledge base with this book. I just came off Empires of the Sky ( mainly Zeppelins history) which was a great read ( or listen in this case!). I was reminded how much I really didn't know about them. This book was a natural to follow. I really enjoyed the stories and when you hear about what happened with the Akron, Macon and amd the Shenandoah in detail from those that were there, then your whole outlook into the subject will change. Just as many people believe that the Hindenburg was the only airship built and think it crashed on its first flight, then you will too see that there is much more history to these airships then jist what you see in a photo.
Well worth your time to listen and since I did most of it in my truck, I wanted to drive slower and further to get more time in.

Airships rule

Very informative read for the airship neophyte and expert alike. My only gripe - the narrator really should’ve known how to pronounce “Akron”

Informative

This book does fill in some of the gaps I have about the history of American airships and why they failed. There is quite of bit of history here. Covering aspects of the operation and construction of the LTA ships.

About time

Great book in a great subject. Lots of facts but not a total text book read.