Naked Airport

A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Transportation, Aviation, History, Modern, 20th Century
Cover of the book Naked Airport by Alastair Gordon, Henry Holt and Co.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alastair Gordon ISBN: 9781466869110
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Publication: April 22, 2014
Imprint: Metropolitan Books Language: English
Author: Alastair Gordon
ISBN: 9781466869110
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication: April 22, 2014
Imprint: Metropolitan Books
Language: English

The first full cultural history of the ultimate modern structure: the airport, revealed as never before ...

Since its origins in the muddy fields of flying machines, the airport has arguably become one of the defining institutions of modern life. In Naked Airport, critic Alastair Gordon ranges from global geopolitics to action movies to the daily commute, showing how airports have changed our sense of time, distance, travel, style, and even the way cities are built and business is done.

Gordon introduces the people who shaped this place of sudden transportation: pilots like Charles Lindberg, architects like Eero Saarinen, politicians like Fiorello La Guardia, and Hitler, who built Berlin's Tempelhof as a showcase for Fascist power. He describes the airport's futuristic contributions, such as credit cards, in the form of fly-now-pay-later schemes, and he charts its shift in popular perception, from glamorous to infuriating. Finally, he analyzes the airport's function in war and peace—its gatekeeper role controlling immigration, its appeal to revolutionaries since the hijackings of the 1960s, and its new frontline position in the struggle against terror.

Compelling and accessible, Naked Airport is an original history of a long-neglected yet central creation of modern reality and imagination.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The first full cultural history of the ultimate modern structure: the airport, revealed as never before ...

Since its origins in the muddy fields of flying machines, the airport has arguably become one of the defining institutions of modern life. In Naked Airport, critic Alastair Gordon ranges from global geopolitics to action movies to the daily commute, showing how airports have changed our sense of time, distance, travel, style, and even the way cities are built and business is done.

Gordon introduces the people who shaped this place of sudden transportation: pilots like Charles Lindberg, architects like Eero Saarinen, politicians like Fiorello La Guardia, and Hitler, who built Berlin's Tempelhof as a showcase for Fascist power. He describes the airport's futuristic contributions, such as credit cards, in the form of fly-now-pay-later schemes, and he charts its shift in popular perception, from glamorous to infuriating. Finally, he analyzes the airport's function in war and peace—its gatekeeper role controlling immigration, its appeal to revolutionaries since the hijackings of the 1960s, and its new frontline position in the struggle against terror.

Compelling and accessible, Naked Airport is an original history of a long-neglected yet central creation of modern reality and imagination.

More books from Henry Holt and Co.

Cover of the book Debt Free! by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Blowback by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Tongue First by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book The Empire of Necessity by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Where My Heart Used to Beat by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book In the Name of Democracy by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Handimals: Animals in Art and Nature by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Life Magic by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Yesterday's Train by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Freud by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Under the Green Hill by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Our Game by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book W.E.B. Du Bois by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book The Unbreakable Code by Alastair Gordon
Cover of the book Winning the Right War by Alastair Gordon
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy