IN-PERSON: An Evening with Historian and Bestselling Author S.C. Gwynne, Author of His Majesty’s Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine

Join the Hudson Library & Historical Society for an in-person author event on Wednesday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. with bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, S.C. Gwynne, to discuss his new book, His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine. His Majesty’s Airship is the stunning historical tale of the rise and fall of the world’s largest airship—and the doomed love story between an ambitious British officer and a married Romanian Princess at its heart. Kirkus opines, “A sturdy, well-paced contribution to aviation history.” Please note that this event is not virtual but will be held IN PERSON at the Hudson Library & Historical Society.

The tragic story of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular hydrogen-fueled fireball in 1930—has been largely forgotten. Airships were a symbol of the future. R101 was not just the largest aircraft ever to have flown and the product of the world’s most advanced engineering—she was also the lynchpin of an imperial British scheme to link by air the far-flung areas of its empire from Australia to India, South Africa, Canada, Egypt, and Singapore. There was just one problem: beyond the hype and technological wonders, these big, steel-framed, hydrogen-filled airships were a dangerously bad idea. In His Majesty’s Airship, historian S.C. Gwynne resurrects it in vivid detail, telling the epic story of great ambition gone terribly wrong. The book features a cast of remarkable—and often tragically flawed—characters, including Lord Christopher Thomson, the man who dreamed up the Imperial Airship Scheme and then relentlessly pushed R101 to her destruction; Princess Marthe Bibesco, the celebrated writer and glamorous socialite with whom he had a long affair; and Herbert Scott, a national hero who devolved into drink and ruin. These historical figures—and the ship they built, flew, and crashed—come together in a grand tale that details the rocky road to commercial aviation.

S.C. Gwynne is the author of Hymns of the Republic and the New York Times bestsellers Rebel Yell and Empire of the Summer Moon, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He spent most of his career as a journalist, including stints with Time as bureau chief, national correspondent, and senior editor, and with Texas Monthly as executive editor.

Registration for this program is required. Copies of His Majesty’s Airship will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of the Learned Owl Book Shop.

If you have any questions, please email askus@hudson.lib.oh.us or call (330) 653-6658 x1010.