
Into Unknown Skies
An Unlikely Team, a Daring Race, and the First Flight around the World
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Narrated by:
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Adam Verner
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By:
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David K. Randall
About this listen
“David K. Randall has conjured the first air race to circumnavigate the globe in all its death-defying glory, featuring a cast of unlikely heroes who had the right stuff before anyone knew what that was.” — Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La and 13 Hours
“Thrilling reading...an account filled with unexpected layers of intrigue. Recommend Into Unknown Skies to Erik Larson fans.” —Booklist
The unbelievable history of the 1924 race to circumnavigate the globe for the first time by air, a nail-biting contest that pitted underdog US pilots against their better-funded European rivals, created technology that changed aviation, and convinced America that its future was in the sky.
In the early 1920s, America’s faith in aviation was in shambles. Twenty years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, most Americans believed airplanes were for delivering the mail or performing daredevil stunts in front of crowds. The dream of commercial air travel remained just that. Even the American military was a skeptic—rather than pay to bring its planes back from Europe following World War I, the War Department chose to burn most of them instead.
All that changed with a single race in 1924. It was not just any race, though—it was a race to become the first to circle the globe in an airplane, pitting a team of underdog American pilots against the best aviators in the world from England, Italy, Portugal, France, and Argentina. Rooted in the same daring spirit that pushed early twentieth-century explorers to attempt crossings of the Antarctic ice or locate the source of the Nile, this race was an adventure unlike anything the world had seen before. The obstacles were daunting—from experimental planes, to dangerous landings in uncharted territory, to the simple navigational gauges that could lead pilots hundreds of miles off course. Failure seemed all but guaranteed—the suspense less about who would win than how many would perish for the honor of being the first.
Now on the race’s centennial, award-winning author David K. Randall tells the story of this riveting, long-forgotten race. Through larger-than-life characters, treacherous landings, disease, and ultimately triumph, Into Unknown Skies demonstrates how one race returned America to aviation greatness. A story of underdog teammates, bold exploration, and American ingenuity, Into Unknown Skies is an untold adventure tale showing the power of flight to bring the world together.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2024 David Randall (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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We the Poisoned
- Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover-Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans
- By: Jordan Chariton, Erin Brockovich - foreword
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Sophie Amoss
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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As the ongoing Flint water crisis marks its tenth anniversary, Chariton reveals shocking new evidence of the major government cover-up that resulted in the poisoning of Flint—and shatters what you think you know about what caused the water crisis.
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I thought I had learned what I could, until now
- By Anonymous User on 10-18-24
By: Jordan Chariton, and others
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Headwaters
- The Adventures, Obsession and Evolution of a Fly Fisherman (Patagonia)
- By: Dylan Tomine, John Larison - foreward
- Narrated by: Dylan Tomine
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Dylan Tomine takes us to the far reaches of the planet in search of fish and adventure, with keen insight, a strong stomach, and plenty of laughs along the way. Closer to home, he wades deeper into his beloved steelhead rivers of the Pacific Northwest and the politics of saving them. Tomine celebrates the joy - and pain - of exploration, fatherhood, and the comforts of home waters from a vantage point well off the beaten path. Headwaters traces the evolution of a lifelong angler’s priorities from fishing to the survival of the fish themselves.
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Because fishing is about more than catching fish
- By Paul O. on 04-12-25
By: Dylan Tomine, and others
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Sounds Wild and Broken
- Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction
- By: David George Haskell
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen, David George Haskell
- Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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We live on a planet alive with song, music, and speech. David Haskell explores how these wonders came to be. In rain forests shimmering with insect sound and swamps pulsing with frog calls we learn about evolution’s creative powers. From birds in the Rocky Mountains and on the streets of Paris, we discover how animals learn their songs and adapt to new environments. Below the waves, we hear our kinship to beings as different as snapping shrimp, toadfish, and whales.
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A poet-philosopher-scientist-sage for the ages!
- By S. Kalita on 03-27-22
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Continental Reckoning
- The American West in the Age of Expansion
- By: Elliott West
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 23 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Continental Reckoning renowned historian Elliott West presents a sweeping narrative of the American West and its vital role in the transformation of the nation. In the 1840s, by which time the United States had expanded to the Pacific, what would become the West was home to numerous vibrant Native cultures and vague claims by other nations.
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Great Historian, Worth Listening
- By Janice on 01-19-25
By: Elliott West
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The Blazing World
- A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
- By: Jonathan Healey
- Narrated by: Oliver Hembrough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.
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Been looking for this book for a long time
- By cmurrell on 07-30-23
By: Jonathan Healey
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The Embarrassment of Riches
- An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
- By: Simon Schama
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Simon Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama recreates in precise detail a nation's mental state. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators.
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Great!
- By Noe on 12-05-24
By: Simon Schama
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Regenesis
- Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet
- By: George Monbiot
- Narrated by: George Monbiot
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Farming is the world's greatest cause of environmental destruction - and the one we are least prepared to talk about. We criticize urban sprawl, but farming sprawls across 30 times as much land. We have ploughed, fenced and grazed great tracts of the planet, felling forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning rivers and oceans to feed ourselves. Yet millions still go hungry.
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Biased, ignores science
- By Soil Enthusiast on 04-25-23
By: George Monbiot
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The Good Virus
- The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage
- By: Tom Ireland
- Narrated by: Ben Deery
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared.
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No brainer
- By Paul on 10-11-23
By: Tom Ireland
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The Earth Transformed
- An Untold History
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Peter Frankopan
- Length: 29 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Global warming is one of the greatest dangers mankind faces today. Even as temperatures increase, sea levels rise, and natural disasters escalate, our current environmental crisis feels difficult to predict and understand. But climate change and its effects on us are not new. In a bold narrative that spans centuries and continents, Peter Frankopan argues that nature has always played a fundamental role in the writing of history.
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A Thoughtful History of A Complex Phenomenon
- By Lucy A. Pithecus on 04-21-23
By: Peter Frankopan
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The Trail of Gold and Silver
- Mining in Colorado, 1859-2009 (Timberline Books)
- By: Duane A. Smith
- Narrated by: Chuck Buell
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Trail of Gold and Silver, historian Duane A. Smith details Colorado's mining saga - a story that stretches from the beginning of the gold and silver mining rush in the mid-19th century into the 21st century. Gold and silver mining laid the foundation for Colorado's economy, and 1859 marked the beginning of a fever for these precious metals.
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Great Read for any Coloradan
- By John J. Baich on 11-23-23
By: Duane A. Smith
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The Little Book of Aliens
- By: Adam Frank
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone is curious about life in the Universe, UFOs and whether ET is out there. Over the course of his thirty-year career as an astrophysicist, Adam Frank has consistently been asked about the possibility of intelligent life in the universe. Are aliens real? Where are they? Why haven’t we found them? What happens if we do?
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Simply Outstanding
- By CarlosR on 04-22-24
By: Adam Frank
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Alexandria
- The City That Changed the World
- By: Islam Issa
- Narrated by: Islam Issa
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining rigorous research with myth and folklore, Alexandria is an authoritative history of a city that has shaped our modern world. Soon after being founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the crucible of cultural exchange between East and West for millennia and the undisputed global capital of knowledge. It was at the forefront of human progress, but it also witnessed brutal natural disasters, plagues, crusades, and violence.
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More than a city history
- By Ramsey S on 12-11-24
By: Islam Issa
What listeners say about Into Unknown Skies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Charles
- 10-27-24
Brave or crazy?
The authors depiction of this accomplishment is as vivid as a movie. I appreciated the description of the plane construction with one of the famous founders of the aircraft industry. My favorite scene was the traveling with a malfunctioning airplane for 78 miles or landing in the rutted desert. The aircraft engine was spitting bits of metal that were cutting the pilot and cutting up the plane. He was porpoising the plane up and down to give the engine time to cool off before engaging the engine power again.
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- JRaubach
- 02-10-25
A nearly unbelievable story!
My husband and I could hardly get out of our car while we were listening to this story. Why hasn’t this been made into a movie!
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- Anonymous User
- 03-09-25
Ok.
Read like an NPR Correspondent - ANNOYING! Just read the script, don’t try to enhance everything.
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