Aerial Life

Book excerpt: NOMINATED AND SHORT LISTED FOR THE SURVEILLANCE STUDIES BOOK PRIZE 2011! This theoretically informed research explores what the development and transformation of air travel has meant for societies and individuals. Brings together a number of interdisciplinary approaches towards the aeroplane and its relation to society Presents an original theory that our societies are aerial societies, or 'aerealities', and shows how we are both enabled and threatened by aerial mobility Features a series of detailed international case studies which map the history of aviation over the past century - from the promises of early flight, to World War II bombing campaigns, and to the rise of international terrorism today Demonstrates the transformational capacity of air transport to shape societies, bodies and individual identities Offers startling historical evidence and bold new ideas about how the social and material spaces of the aeroplane are considered in the modern era