In short, its a good read.

Realistically, the government was the only potential buyer of those primitive flying machines in any sort of quantity, but neither Congress nor the General Staff was easily convinced that the benefits would be worth the cost. The young military and naval fliers who thought otherwise constantly struggled to demonstrate the value of aviation to the voting public but more often than not the hardware simply was not up to the task.

As the author (a law professor himself) discuses in some detail, one of the biggest obstacles was the Wrights themselves. Their bitterly contested-and expensive-patent infringement suits against Glenn Curtiss and others stunted the growth of the U.S. aircraft industry during its formative years. The author maintains that the Army overtly supported the Wright's position. Investors were justifiably leery, and without capital aircraft development stagnated.

Another legal episode, the 1915 court martial of Lt. Col. Lewis Goodier, is used to point out flaws in the Signal Corps management of the fledgling Air Service as well as to illustrate how personal jealousy among the flying fraternity and internal service rivalries also contributed to the sorry state of affairs in Army aviation. The author also makes an interesting assessment of what he terms the "aeronaut constituency", the various clubs and associations formed by enthusiastic-and often wealthy and influential-aviation boosters. Many other factors that aided or impeded the development of Army aviation are explored as well.

This is not a book about airplanes. (The caption on page 65 has the aviator at the controls of a "Wright Flyer", although he is grasping the steering wheel of what is clearly a Curtiss pusher.) Likewise, not much new light is shed on the operational aspects of Army aviation in those early years. The serious student of aviation history, however, will come away with a much better understanding of the complex military, political and personal interactions that determined the course of U.S. Army aviation through the end of the First World War.

If you have never had anything to do with Yoga before than this is the book to start you off. I love Yoga now and I contribute some of my love to what I was taught when I read this book.

Practice what she teaches and you will become a new person

I love everything about Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. I love their native blood, their corner of the world, their integrity, their skills as lawmen. I eagerly await each new Hillerman book and was on the list at amazon.com for weeks for his latest story.

With that said, I must admit that this was the first time since "Finding Moon" that I did not finish a Hillerman/Chee/Leaphorn story in one sitting. In fact, it took me almost a week to slog through to the conclusion.

The story had little, if any, cohesivenss -- I had to re-read parts to keep all the characters straight. I found several of the plot devices trite and so beneath the characters.

I did like Joe Leaphorn's new love interest and look forward to more stories with the two of them joining forces to solve crimes.

I was also very touched by the scene between Jim Chee and his beloved granduncle. I wept at the end of that chapter. Hillerman's talents were at full tilt during this scene and I wished for more of the same...it just wasn't to be found in this book.

"First Eagle" is not a true representation of Hillerman's abilities. If you're a first time reader, try ANY of the earlier stories. To me, they're heads above this latest effort.

Terry Mathews

As usual, I enjoy reading about the Native American issues touched upon in Hillerman novels. I knew next to nothing about life on a Reservation and little than nothing about the different Navajo traditions, beliefs and cultural taboos.

I find it wonderful how Hillerman weaves a regular whodunnit into all of that Native American background information.

On another point: for me, the bubonic plague is a scary thing, that symbolizes death and horrible suffering. Yet, it seems that the characters we meet in the story are quite casual about it. Hillerman's dialogue talks about it like I would calmly discuss a flu.

I did not like this story line as much as I have liked previous books. This is a definite read, just to revisit Leaphorn and Chee, but I wouldn't say this was the best of the series.

I don't like Chee's relationship with Janet and I will wait until the next issue to see what's up with that! Janet strikes me as being unsure of what she wants and is stringing Chee along. I imagine Chee as a "hero" character, the big, strong silent type and I don't want someone playing with his heart. Call me sentimental.

Good Book, not a great book. I finished in 5 days of evening reading before bed.

I felt Chee's character was developed more and, yes, he continues to struggle with his idea of the good life versus Janet Peete's, (Jim, she ain't worth it. Go after Bernie!!!) and he still feels inadequate next to Leaphorn's legend. But he is finding he is capable and I am sure will gain in confidence. Gee, if you people want realistic writing don't expect the characters' problems and insecurities to just disappear. Do yours?

Leaphorn is making an effort to keep busy after retirement and Hillerman succeeds in keeping him interesting and important to plot.

I found the plague plotline interesting as I had just read several newspaper accounts of real plague outbreaks in that area. Wow! How very timely of Mr. Hillerman. The medical and scientific descriptions were not hard to follow and I felt they helped flesh the story out more. The naysayers to all that detail(they had better not read Robin Cook or Michael Crichton) were probably intimidated by it, but Hillerman makes it easy for us ordinary folks.

One more point to defend. Some say the plot's too slow. Well, I felt it moved along quite nicely, was suspenseful and it most certainly made sense! And, anyway, haven't you people learned anything about Navajo patience and all that stuff in your other readings?