"In 1909, municipal authorities built an airfield in northern Italy and invited the world's leading aviators to compete on it. The show attracted thousands of spectators - among them Giacomo Puccini and Gabriele d'Annunzio - and reporters, including, amazingly, Franz Kafka, Max Brod, and Luigi Barzini. The Air Show at Brescia, 1909 is Peter Demetz's account of what happened in the air and on the ground before, during, and after this amazing moment at the dawn of the modern age."--BOOK JACKET.