The Chicago Sun Times printed the first part of a two-part exerpt of The Shame of the Friendly Skies by Paul H. Weaver.

While I doubt it will be as riveting a read as Thomas Petzinger’s masterful Hard Landing — a must read for any aviation enthusiast.

It will, though, become just as important a piece of United Airlines history as biographies of Pat Patterson.

I do plan to read the book, so I’ll certainly have more to say on the subject, but the article does reveal a $47 million kickback to a corporation controlled by the pilots union in exchange for averting a holiday work slowdown. Interesting stuff.