Wings of Globalization: New Approaches to the History of Commercial Aviation, 1920s–2020s

Over the past one hundred years, commercial aviation has been both an engine of global interconnectedness and integration, and a source of inequality, insecurity, and environmental damage. This volume examines aviation across different regions—ranging from Europe to Africa, and from the Americas to Asia. Moving beyond a narrow focus on technical innovation, the contributions combine established analytical tools from the histories of technology and science with new approaches from environmental, cultural, diplomatic, business, and imperial history as well as gender studies and related disciplines. They situate the history of aviation within the broader political and cultural history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, revealing the many ways in which aviation both reflected and shaped global processes. Together, they offer a rich, multidimensional understanding of aviation’s role in shaping the modern world.