Alberto Santos-Dumont occupies a considerable place in the history of aviation. This Brazilian with French and Portuguese origins, Parisian by adoption, has more failures than successes and was content to fly, most often, in the 'very restricted perimeter' of the Bois de Boulogne, at the gates of Paris. However, he was the first to design and successfully fly piston-engined dirigible balloons and was the first in Europe to successfully take off an airplane. Moreover, his misadventures, as spectacular as his successes, earned him unprecedented fame throughout the world; the publicity given to his experiments galvanized aeronautical research and undoubtedly contributed to making France the "cradle" of aviation. This book brings back to life this nervous little man who knew very well how to put himself on stage and revives his era, in the footsteps of Zéphyrin Brioché (the scholar Cosinus), in the tumult of Offenbach's quadrilles or the crowds as aristocratic as popular places admiring the reckless Brazilian until the abrupt interruption of this joyful fresco. This lively story, unfolded in a manner as breathless as the life of Santos-Dumont (who thought, conceived, always tried everything at full speed), is embellished with quotes from contemporary journalists or witnesses, sometimes grandiloquent, as well as little-known illustrations from the archives of the Air and Space Museum (photos, caricatures, autographs...) some of which are shown here for the first time.
