The Innovators

About the Book

1917. America enters the World War. Woodrow Bishop and his nine children move from a farm family into national and international events. Two sons distinguish themselves in the war in France. One is an aviator and one is a battlefield commissioned soldier. Airplanes develop into weapons of war. Germany develops the huge dirigible airship, a weapon of terror, taking the war to cities and bombing of civilians. Peace brings the Bishops home, involving them in oil, hotels, heavy construction, and a South American airline. Prosperity brings temptations, treachery, entrapment, murder, and near failure in the '29 crash, the Great Depression and into 1933. War clouds again form in Europe.

About the Author

The author was in flight training as a naval aviation cadet when World War 11 ended. He was born the year that Lindbergh flew the Atlantic,New York to Paris, and has always loved flying. He has been a pilot since he was 16 and continued to fly for 62 years. His wife of 51 years is a pilot and a former member of the '99s', the International women pilots' group founded by Amelia Earhart and other early women pilots.

They have three sons, two daughters-in-law, one grandson in the U.S. Air Force, one step-grandaughter and two step-great grandsons. Cantrell is a semi-retired Architect, having practiced for over 50 years and taught in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University for 28 years. The Cantrells live in Lubbock, Texas.