When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Golden Age of Airship Travel

Few people realize that Zeppelins carried thousands of paying passengers millions of miles without a single fatality for more than 20 years — an achievement unmatched by any other form of commercial transportation until the Hindenburg crash in 1937. And Germany wasn’t the only country vested in the success of commercial airships. During the first third of the 20th century France, England, Italy, Spain, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Argentina were just some of the many countries that built and flew airships. Incredibly, during the 1920s and 30s, the United States Navy spent millions of dollars building Zeppelins that were not only designed to protect Hawaii and California from a surprise attack by Japan in the days before radar, but promoted them as the next form of long-distance transportation competing with luxury ocean liners and transcontinental trains for first class passengers.

This course focuses on the fascinating but little-known period of aviation history, and will include remarkable photographs, first person accounts, and rare film clips of lighter-than-air flight.

Faculty Bio

John Geoghegan, a former special correspondent for the New York Times, specializes in reporting on unusual inventions that failed in the marketplace despite their innovative nature. He is the author of four non-fiction books and has written hundreds of articles for such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine. His latest non-fiction book, When Giants Ruled the Sky (The History Press, 2022), was the basis for the recent Smithsonian documentary, America’s Lost Airship, in which he appeared as the on-camera expert.

This is an Encore Course

• Encore courses are popular courses that were recorded a previous term.
• All pre-recorded class videos and course materials will be available to enjoy from Jan. 16–March 31 in the Member Dashboard. Learn more.
• You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.

Member Praise for "When Giants Ruled the Sky"

I knew nothing about the history of these aircraft and was so surprised on how quickly they developed through the years. Such an interesting, and virtually unknown part of aviation history.

BEST class. Well organized. Learned SO much!!