Born and raised one block from Chicago's Midway Airport, Branigan began cultivating his love of Chicago's airports as a child. His first airport job was shining shoes at the Midway terminals as a sixth-grader in the 1980s; he has worked in aircraft maintenance at both Midway and O'Hare since 1992. He shares his fascination with air travel, in general, and O'Hare Airport, in particular, starting with transformation of the land from open prairie to a key hub in the nation's developing railway system during the 1800s, to a major airplane manufacturing plant during WWII, to the establishment of the airport in the 1960s and its subsequent growth into one of the largest and busiest air traffic facilities in the world. The book is illustrated with b&w photographs. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)