Above the Fray, a Novel of the Union Balloon Corps, Part Two

Book excerpt: This is the second and final part of the first adult novel to cover the Union Balloon Corps in the Civil War. At the start of the Civil War, Nathaniel Curry is a fifteen-year-old telegraph operator in Richmond. He travels to Washington to see a balloon demonstration and finds himself, entirely by accident, assisting Thaddeus Lowe in directing artillery fire on a Confederate emplacement - the first use of an aircraft in warfare. A pariah back in Virginia, Nathaniel joins the nascent Union Balloon Corps, the world's first air force. Nathaniel, a Southerner, is suspected of being a spy by both sides, even as he has to fight off being recruited as a spy. Meticulously researched, this book captures the sweep of the war, and highlights a little-known facet of history that today has come to dominate military thinking. It is the story of the coming of age of aviation, of modern technology, and of the nation itself.