Dayton's Children ― The Unlikely Gang Who Brought Us Aviation, "The Cash" and the Keys to the Road

History repeats. Today’s headlines of NSA cyberwar, missing jetliners, GM ignition scandals and environmental disaster echo back to WWII codebreaking, Murphy's Law, Colonel Deeds’ Barn Gang and the epic bad luck of Thomas Midgley, Jr. For over 100 years remarkable, intertwined individuals have reshaped the way we live our lives, from the keys in our pockets to the water we drink and the air we breathe. Dayton was the Silicon Valley of its time, and these “grand eccentrics” in the small Midwestern city of Dayton, Ohio changed our whole world. Wherever we live we’re all Dayton’s Children. The book’s twenty profiles include... • The folksy “Boss Ket,” second only to Thomas Edison in inventions • The legless black man who bootstrapped himself to the sky • The woman who beat out Amelia Earhart • The nutty cash register tycoon who rescued half a city • Plus an insider view of the swanky club that corralled them under one roof Their legacy includes an array of innovation styles worth the price of the book alone. No two worked the same way, not even Wilbur and Orville Wright. Mark Bernstein, noted author of Grand Eccentrics, contributes chapters on Charles Kettering, Arthur Morgan and John H. Patterson. LCD inventor John Janning and 1913 flood survivor Charlie Adams help tell their own tales. Kate Hagenbuch Martel conducted two interviews included while Lauren Heaton of the Yellow Springs News profiled Hardy Trolander. Mark Martel wrote the balance of Dayton's Children and illustrated each chapter, drawing upon his career in advertising. A first-time author, Martel is also a third-generation history buff. Praise for Dayton’s Children: To say Dayton’s Children “changed the world” may be the understatement of the 20th and 21st centuries. Uncle Will once said, “It is not really necessary to look too far into the future; we see enough already to be certain it will be magnificent.” Uncle Will knew... the work and genius of so many Dayton children still fuels a “magnificent” future for generations to come. —Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers The book humanizes the larger-than-life men and women from Dayton who helped create the world of today. The prose seems to seamlessly flow between each contributor. I really love the fact that you don’t have to have an engineer’s degree to understand and enjoy Dayton’s Children. It should be required reading for every high school student in Dayton... and beyond! —Curt Dalton, Dayton historian and author My hometown of Dayton, Ohio has been a center of innovation and technology for over a century. It is the birthplace of some of the greatest technological innovations in the history of human endeavors. It is the home of pioneers like the Wright brothers and Charles F. Kettering, and entrepreneurs like John H. Patterson and Edward A. Deeds, whose inventions and ideas revolutionized transportation, commerce, and our national defense. Dayton’s Children brings these and other prominent hometown heroes to life, through a collection of interesting and colorful anecdotes. —Congressman Mike Turner Based on the website DaytonInnovationLegacy.org, with fifty percent new material and all-original illustrations “A few minutes spent searching other much better funded websites dealing with Ohio state and local history will underscore just how good DaytonInnovationLegacy.org really is.” —Tom Crouch, Senior Curator, National Air and Space Museum The book is available at Dayton History’s Carillon Park, the Engineers Club of Dayton, other area museums and bookstores as well as through Amazon.com.