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Curtiss-Wright: Greatness and Decline. By Louis R. Eltscher and Edward M. Young New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998, xiii + 213 pp. Tables, photos, and appendices. Paper, $33.00. ISBN 0805798293.
Eltscher and Young's Curtiss-Wright is a case study in the rise and fall of the giant aviation produce. Though primarily written for business and aviation historians, the authors' discussion of the relation of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation (and its predecessors) to American mili-- tary mobilization and American wars since the beginning of flight will appeal to a larger audience. Curtiss-Wright is at once a study of the growth of the company and an analysis of what ultimately went wrong. The business world is dynamic: firms like Curtiss-Wright must respond to a variety of economic, technological, market, and political changes if they are to survive. With this perspective as their guide, Eltscher and Young have packed a complex and fascinating story into a brief 166 pages. In eight chapters the authors narrate the origins of industrial aviation from before World War I to 1990. A brief introduction sets the themes, while the...