What We Are Reading Today: The Great Air Race

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Updated 22 January 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: The Great Air Race

Author: John Lancaster

In “The Great Air Race,” amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America.
His thrilling chronicle opens with the race’s impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation’s future was in the skies.
Mitchell’s contest was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel.
A thrilling tale of men and their machines, the book offers a new origin point for commercial aviation  even as it greatly expands our pantheon of aviation heroes.

 


What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

Updated 18 December 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

‘Family of Spies’ is a gripping family memoir and nonfiction account that uncovers one family’s shocking role as spies aiding Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“An amazing and gripping tale, full of suspenseful twists and cinematic details,” said a review in The New York Times.
Author Christine Kuehn chronicles the fruits of her decades-long research, revealing her grandparents’ secret espionage activities in pre-World War II Germany and their life in Hawaii, where they gathered intelligence.

Interweaving historical detail with personal narrative, Kuehn shares her own harrowing journey of discovery — sparked by a mysterious letter from a screenwriter — and the emotional toll of confronting this buried past. 
She draws extensively on conversations with her father, Eberhard, who had long remained taciturn about his family’s history, shielding her from questions growing up.