Full Description
Over the past generation, kiteflying has evolved past a springtime childhood rite of passage into a popular mainstream adult activity. The kite's popularity skyrocketed at a time when a new breed of groundbreaking sport kites appeared and kite makers adopted modern synthetic materials developed for other industries. The result was an explosion of kite experimentation and its effects are far-reaching. Kite artists emerged and dazzled onlookers with three-dimensional aerial sculptures. Enthusiasts formed local, national, and international clubs to celebrate kiteflying and schedule festivals for hundreds of thousand pleasure seekers. Inventors perfected new kites and kite accessories, and savvy entrepreneurs tapped budding markets to create multimillion-dollar kiting industries. Yet, despite the revival, the profile of the kiteflier remains anonymous.
In the mid-1990s, the World Kite Museum launched a campaign to put a name to each face and began collecting personal stories from influential kitefliers. Drawing from the museum's audio archive, The Modern Kiteflier brings together firsthand memories from the fun-loving people who pursued their curiosities and built a community. Stitching together slices of grassroots history, The Modern Kiteflier is the first book to tell the story of contemporary kiteflying and the people who pull the strings in kiting.
