When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

Almost everything you know about airships is wrong.

Between 1917 and 1935, the US Navy poured tens of millions of dollars into their airship programme, building a series of dirigibles each one more enormous than the last. These flying behemoths were to be the future of long-distance transport, competing with trains and ocean liners to carry people, post and cargo from country to country, and even across the sea. But by 1936 all these ambitious plans had been scrapped.

What happened?

When Giant...