A more comprehensive history of Pan American World Airways will likely never be written. The author was a Pan Am captain and historian, in whose name (along with Dave Abrams) an annual research grant was awarded by the Pan Am Historical Foundation. An absolutely invaluable reference, and fun reading to boot.

 

This is one of very few books that any serious student of Pan Am simply cannot do without. With an unparalleled knack for uncovering the human drama behind the history, Daley is a master storyteller as well as serious journalist. Available in Kindle format.

 

 

A thoroughly researched history of the magnificent flying boats that once cruised the world’s skies in the days before World War II. A must for every serious Pan Am bibliophile.

 

 

 

A serious dive into a different aspect of Pan Am’s Clippers, the only long-range aircraft capable of carrying transoceanic payloads at the time. Marketed as the ultimate in commercial--or military--aircraft, these flying boats became as much an American icon as the Pan Am logo itself. From movie screen to bookshelf, this volume examines the multitude of ways in which the values inherent in Pan American Airways' clipper ships played out in popular culture.

 

 

 

This book is centered around the experiences of courtly Virginian William Bond, who in the depths of the Great Depression finds himself drawn to Shanghai China to work as executive for one of the most unusual airlines ever to fly: The China National Aviation Corporation.

 

 

Belonging with a very few other books as an essential Pan Am reference, this very carefully researched volume is a trove of factual information about Trippe and his airline. Nicely organized, it celebrates the contribution of Pan Am’s flight attendants down through the years, from the early days to jumbo jets.

 

 

 

An intriguing and well-written history examining the intertwined threads of of U.S. commercial aviation - particularly the paths of Pan American Airways and its founder Juan Trippe - and that of the United States, as the 'American Century' unfolded. The author, now on the faculty of Yale, was a recipient of the Pan Am Historical Foundation's Abrams-Banning Research Grant. Available in Kindle too.

 

 

 

 

"'Hunting the Wind'" is a compelling read covering one of the most important periods in Pan Am's history." —Edward Trippe Chairman, Pan Am Historical Foundation."I joined Pan Am in1967 as a pilot/flight engineer flying Boeing 707s from JFK in New York. I can remember many flights to Europe in my earlier days listening to the senior captains talking about their experiences in the Pan Am flying boats. Reading "Hunting the Wind" brought back those stories with vivid clarity and gave me a much greater appreciation of the Pan Am crew's tribulations and their early flying boat triumphs".—David North, Editor Emeritus of Aviation Week Magazine, former Pan Am pilot and Naval Aviator.

 

A meticulously documented re-telling of the epic flight made by Pan Am Capt. Robert Ford and the crew of the Pacific Clipper, when they safely brought their Boeing flying boat around the world at the start of World War II.

 

 

 As with every book Aviation Historian Ron Davies authored, this beautiful volume reflects his scholarly attention to detail, as well as his love of aviation. Complete with exceptional illustrations by Mike Machat, and Davies' outstanding maps, it’s an essential reference. (Hardcover).

 

 

"In the 1930s and 1940s, Pan American Airways cast air lines across the world’s great oceans, pioneering intercontinental air travel...one of the great technological accomplishments of the twentieth century. At the same time...Pan Am served as a spearpoint of U.S. strategic engagement, projecting American power to every corner of the globe. In their briskly-written and ever-amazing Pan Am at War, authors Mark Cotta Vaz and John H. Hill tell what must surely be the greatest corporate story in American history—how Pan Am’s daring and visionary executives, aviators, and innovators helped win the Second World War."
—Gregory Crouch, author of China's Wings and The Bonanza King.

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 Anyone who wonders why an airline that went out of business over 25 years ago is still remembered with such enthusiasm and loyalty as Pan Am will find answers in this superb book. Pan Am pioneered just about every aspect of airline operations that exist today, especially in the areas of safe flying. It is the story of the airline told, for the most part, by the people who were there. Where there are living participants, narratives have been written by accomplished historians, themselves mostly former Pan Am employees. The stories are illustrated by a wonderful selection of photos from the Pan Am archives. In sum, this is a really fascinating book about a great airline.

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From almost the start of its sixty-four years of operation Pan Am was called upon to evacuate victims of war, revolution, acts of terrorism, oppressive regimes, and natural disasters. The airline and its people were always there when called on; there was never a shortage of volunteers. These volunteers were real heroes, and this is their story. You won't find this story in most history books, but you'll find it all here, in Pan Am's Missions of Mercy and Evacuation Flights.

 

Along with the first volume – Pacific Pioneers – which came out in 1997, these books represent years of patient and assiduous historical effort, and the result is an unmatched collection of pictures, first-hand accounts, memorabilia, and much more, all focusing on Pan Am’s remarkable pioneering efforts to span the mighty Pacific by air in the 1930’s. Go to the author's website:  https://www.pacificpioneers.com/

 

Now in its fourth printing, this excellent book tells a war story that few know about: At a time when the success of the Allied war effort hung by a thread, Pan Am built airfields and instituted a vital intercontinental airlift across some of the planet's most inhospitable and dangerous terrain, across routes stretching almost around the globe.

 

Barrett chronicles Bixby’s life through an impressive collection of family sourced photographs, letters, telegrams, and other artifacts. By decades, each section provides chronological summaries of key activities and events, explained by the photos and documents that follow... For PAA and Lindbergh fans, The Spirit Behind the Spirit of St. Louis Harold M. Bixby, can be enjoyed through multiple straight-through readings and random five-minute dips;for aviation historians and libraries, however, the book warrants consideration as a unique reference tool: the number of otherwise hard-to-locate primary materials it contains, and the high-quality of its production...

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The author’s career spanned the decades between Pan Am’s “saltwater” flying boat fleet and the mighty 747 jumbo jets. He rose through the ranks from junior pilot to corporate executive, and his keen observations make for an outstanding and astute reference, as well as a fascinating account.

 

 

Compiled from the personal diaries of Betty Trippe (Mrs. Juan Trippe) this insightful book offers a unique perspective from the pinnacle of Pan American World Airways, and traces the company’s growth from its earliest days to its successful reach across the globe. There's lots of adventurous travel, and it's richly illustrated too, thanks to Betty Trippe’s excellent photos and editor/publisher Ron Davies’ maps. Hardcover by Paladwr Press, 1996, available at https://shop.thepanammuseum.org/products/pan-ams-first-lady-the-diary-of-betty-stettinius-trippe-hardcover.

 

This book was written by someone working with the close cooperation of Pan Am’s history-minded staff, long before the airline ceased operations. It provides a wonderfully comprehensive and profusely illustrated retrospective, complete with a great deal of otherwise hard-to-find data about Pan Am’s individual aircraft down through the years.

 

The compelling saga of Pan Am’s rise and fall, told in authoritative fashion by someone who experienced much of the story first-hand, not just as a pilot, but as a keen observer. Kindle available.

 

 

Right behind the pilots flying Pan Am’s romantic flying boats were the flight radio officers, and this book provides some great insight and fine stories about the experiences of one of that elite group, who kept the clippers in touch with the world on their long flights.

 

The modest paperback format belies the power of this book to provide a comprehensive picture of Pan Am’s heroic spanning of the Pacific, not only by air, but by the almost herculean job of building air bases on lonely atolls strung across the world’s biggest ocean. The book is thoroughly researched, and provides a collection of photographs which is just about unrivalled.

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Harry Frahm, born in Germany, took a lifetime-opportunity to work and travel "above and below the clouds" - it was the early 1950s, and going to America to work as a flight attendant for the biggest airline in the world, Pan Am. After 33 years of working for Pan Am in the skies and visiting the most exotic places in the world, he reviews his impressions and experiences he had the chance to make - and tells us one charming and funny story after another.Let him take you on a journey to times when aviation was young and layover trips always an adventure! Of course, names are changed - but he swears, each and every world is true.

 

 

A previously untold story of the man who proved to be a genius at orchestrating human potential to meet Pan American’s transoceanic engineering challenges. Beautifully illustrated and well written, it’s a powerful and particularly American life story. Now in Paperback on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

Captain Frank M. Briggs - A Pioneering Pan American Pilot is the biography of a young Naval pilot who joined Pan Am in the mid-1930s during the romantic years of international aviation. His career spanned the days of the great flying boats to the modern jumbo jets.

 

 

Lots of autobiographies about aviation careers focus on adventures high above ground, but Flying Higher, at least the part about Beyer's early work with Pan Am shortly out of college, focuses on experiences with more down-to earth work, like loading the China Clipper during its final days running shuttle flights from Miami to the then-Belgian Congo. Available as a Kindle too.

 

Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men–era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up. Cooke’s intimate storytelling weaves together the real-life stories of a memorable cast of characters, from small-town girl Lynne Totten, a science major who decided life in a lab was not for her, to Hazel Bowie, one of the relatively few Black stewardesses of the era, as they embraced the liberation of their new jet-set life. Cooke brings to light the story of Pan Am stewardesses’ role in the Vietnam War, as the airline added runs from Saigon to Hong Kong for planeloads of weary young soldiers straight from the battlefields, who were off for five days of R&R, and then flown back to war. Finally, with Operation Babylift—the dramatic evacuation of 2,000 children during the fall of Saigon—the book’s special cast of stewardesses unites to play an extraordinary role on the world stage.

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Alexandra H. Rodrigues was born and raised in Berlin during the turmoil of World War II. She worked, danced and played in Germany, Austria, Sweden and more. Sponsored as Flight Attendant for Pan American World Airways, Alexandra flew the world for nearly 20 years. Later, she was Assistant to Pan Am Director of Language Development Dr. Y. Bator where she met talk-show host Barry Farber. He made her coordinator for his Long Island Language Clubs. Alexandra lives with her family in New York, writing prose and poetry.

He knew and flew with the famous people of his time: Doolittle, Chennault, and Jackie Cochran. He flew the Hump, bombers over China, and was Chiang Kai-shek’s pilot – and there’s much more to tell!

 

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A very personal perspective on flying as a stewardess with the "world's most experienced airline" when Pan Am was seen as the epitome of commercial air carriers.

 

 

 

The amazing life story of someone who epitomizes the spirit of Pan Am “the world’s airline.” He lived through World War II in Japan, later going on to school in Hawaii, and a long successful Pan Am career in Asia.

 

 

Told by a stewardess who flew for Pan American Airways for 16 years. This book covers the1960's and '70's jet-set lifestyle, Pan Am's rise and fall, celebrity and stewardesses stories, all told from an insider's point of view.

 

 

An insightful, hilarious, sometimes seat-gripping look at the adventures of an ebullient flight attendant, who flew for the world’s most iconic airline, Pan Am. With the world at her fingertips, anything was possible...even the improbable. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the read as Wendy Knecht recounts the experiences of her lifetime. Available in paperback and Kindle.

 

"Bill Travis' PAN AM CAPTAIN: AIMING HIGH is an adventure story wrapped inside a memoir. Here is a slice of aviation history viewed through the eyes of Pan Am captain Bill Travis."The author takes you on a personal journey, coming up the hard way, joining the great Pan Am at the peak of its glory days, living through the airline's slow descent to extinction, making the most of each new situation. Captain Travis is good company for this journey, not just for the plethora of anecdotes and personal history, but also for what you'll learn about the skills of visualization and goal-setting.This is a great ride, informative and entertaining. You'll be glad you took the trip."—Robert Gandt, Author of SKYGODS: The Fall of Pan Am.

 

Tom Kewin started with Pan Am as an apprentice flight engineer on flying boats, and finished his career on 747's. He shares some of his experiences in this great little book. The author started his aviation journey on March 11, 1943 when Pan American Airways hired him as an apprentice Flight Engineer. From the China Clipper to the Jumbo 747 it was a wonderful forty-year trip. You’ll find Kewin's accounts of the airplanes, the people, the places, and the airline interesting and enlightening.

 

This book is not just a laugh-out-loud romp around the world or a historical foray into the beginnings of the great airline nor is it an emotional unveiling of the Facts and the Fun behind the logo...it’s all of the above. "Pan Am was an education. It was our graduate degree in foreign languages, sociology, psychology, culture and etiquette."

 

Lots of intriguing adventures, told in diary fashion by a former stewardess who saw almost everything in her time with Pan Am.

 

 

 

Now available as a Kindle, this is a great compendium of stories from various people who worked for Pan Am. Sir Richard Branson has commented: “This book captures many of Pan Am’s most memorable events from personal accounts of the employees who were there.”

 

Bert Voortmeyer found himself unloading the SS North Haven in dangerous swells, digging trenches, and “riding the reef,” guiding the heavily loaded barges with lumber, fuel barrels, and thousands of other things across the reefs that surrounded both Midway and Wake. The living was rough, the work was hard, but he relished the experience. He and his buddies took lots of pictures during the expedition for Pan American Airways. Author Carol Nickisher, Bert’s daughter, captures the adventure in her book, Riding the Reef, a great read filled with amazing photos, letters home, and absorbing history.

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Ernest “Allie” Allison was a true pioneer, first flying the mail for the U.S. Post Office, and again in China for CNAC, and finally as chief Boeing test pilot for the B-29. He loved to fly, loved to sail, and fortunately for us, his life’s record has been preserved in this very nicely documented (and illustrated) biography, carefully written by his daughter.

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It’s adventure and espionage onboard the Pacific Clipper as two spies, one American and the other a German, fly across the southwest Pacific and on to Asia, Africa and the Americas, alongside the heroic Clipper crew, they are all on a desperate journey to get home in a world tearing itself apart.

 

 

A literary paean to the adventure, glamor, and excitement that filled the lives of the young women who flew as Pan Am stewardesses.

 

 

 

An adventure story that throws together real-life Pan Am pioneer Charles Lindbergh with a new companion named Oliver Wheelock, and together they find peril and excitement in the land of the ancient Maya.

 

 

The story within this story is set at the very cusp of war in the Pacific, a young Canadian woman named Kay Jeynes is sent to the other side of the world on a personal mission for her elderly employer, who happens to be Japanese. On the way, she finds adventure and romance, much of it on board a Pan American clipper. She is also headed down a path of self-discovery, the results of which are not all that welcome. North, an accomplished mystery writer, has crafted a very readable story, and has a deft touch with dialog.  She has done some credible research into a long-past time and place in bringing this story to life (written in the first person), and it's not too difficult to overlook some of the small mistakes that creep into the historical narrative. That's no reason at all not to enjoy this imaginative and absorbing book.

 

This carefully crafted book is replete with memorable characters. It’s a coming of age story that carries protagonist Duff Malone from his days as an energetic young cruise director to respected Pan Am executive, from violent pre-war Asia in the 1930s to America's tumultuous Vietnam protest years of the 1970s. Set in Hawaii, it presents informed and affectionate insights about Hawaiian attitudes and cultures. “I didn't want it to end. McPhail's characters are people I wish I knew personally.” —Kevin Carroll, Author "A Moment's Pause For Gratitude."

 

The first historical novel of a planned trilogy about the Pacific war and places where Pan Am operated during the conflict, the book is crafted in the semi-narrative style of the era, and covers the American campaigns of the Pacific conflict, including those of Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur.

 

Reference  | Classic books  |  Biographies & Memoirs  |  Fiction  | 

Non-Fiction  |  Pictorial  |  Pan Am-Related Books |  Bibliographies

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The 747: A Tumultuous Beginning tells the next riveting chapter in the storied plane’s early history, revealing details of serious in-flight incidents and extraordinarily poor engine reliability and aircraft maintenance problems confronting the employees of Pan American World Airways and other airlines with 747 fleets.

 

 

 

Building for War by Bonita Gilbert tells the story of Depression-era civilian contractors who come to a remote Pacific atoll in 1941 to build a naval air station. One of a dozen Pacific projects contracted by the United States Navy, Wake is the most challenging in terms of distance and physical features. (2012).

 

 

The true story of Pan American's flying boats and their role in the war in the Pacific - based on over 6,900 previously undisclosed government and corporate documents China Clipper is a gripping and revealing story that sheds new light on the events leading up to World War II.

 

A remarkably researched book packed with information and emotion, Flight 7 Is Missing: The Search for My Father's Killer is a gripping page-turner that reads like a fast-paced murder mystery. Join Fortenberry on his crusade as he tirelessly tracks down every possible lead and eventually exposes the person he believes responsible for this tragic crime and mystery involving Pan Am Boeing-377 Stratocruiser, "Clipper Romance of the Skies."

 

After a decades-long career working with Pan American Airways, John Stearns wrote this book to share both his life experiences as well as philosophical musings on what makes for success in human endeavors. It makes for some very interesting reading.

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A nicely illustrated history of Pan Am, including some rare images from private collections. Available as a Kindle too.

 

 

A beautifully crafted volume, with carefully chosen photographs illustrating Pan Am’s decades.

 

"The best book ever written on any airline - Pan Am or otherwise..."—Jeff Kriendler, Former Pan Am vice president for corporate communications.
"Pan Am's soaring brand image comes alive..." —Adweek.
"This book belongs on every travel lover's shelf..."—USA Today.

 

The history of Pan American Airways is, to a great degree, the story of international air transport and, within that, the flying-boat is one of the airliner’s most recognizable aircraft. The Pan Am Clipper covers one of aviation history’s most inspiring and magical periods. Illustrated with more than 100 archive photographs, this impressive book is a tribute to a technical wonder that continues to fascinate and captivate many people today.

 

A beautifully produced and illustrated volume combining lots of Pan Am memorabilia, first hand accounts, along with a concise history of the airline’s romantic days. 2019 2nd Ed., is revised and expanded.

 

A pictorial history of the airline that highlights its aviation "Firsts" and notable achievements. Included are vintage photographs of airliners and images of timetable covers, schedules and route maps, annual report covers and baggage strap tags, all documenting its storied history from first flight to last. The 2nd Edition features additional images as well as narratives about significant aircraft in Pan American’s fleet and its important routes.

 

The rise and fall of an American empire is examined in this full-color postcard history of Pan Am. The book is an extensive collection of Pan Am postcards that illustrate the iconic history of the "World's Most Experienced Airline.

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Many millions travel by air every year. For most of us, the experience of being in an airport is to be endured rather than appreciated, with little thought for the quality of the architecture. No matter how hard even the world's best architects have tried, it is difficult to make a beautiful airport. And yet such places do exist. Cathedrals of the jet age that offer something of the transcendence of flight even in an era of mass travel and budget fares. Here are twenty-one of the most beautiful airports in the world.

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The author moved from a life of small-town innocence in Durango Colorado into a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities when she signed on to fly for Pan Am. Attending U.S. servicemen on R&R (Rest and Recuperation) flights into and out of Vietnam and serving a head of state are just two of the transformative experiences she shares with readers. This is a fascinating personal account and traces a life replete with adventure, mishaps, challenges and fulfillment.

 

 

No one has provided more authoritative information about aviation in print than the late Ron Davies, long-time curator of commercial aviation at the National Air and Space Museum. Written with John Provan, author of many books about aviation in Germany, it's a superlative reference to what still stands as the greatest humanitarian airlift in history.

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Charles “Gunner” Morgan was an American original. He served in the US Navy as an enlisted man, and later as an officer, becoming an expert at firing the Navy’s big guns (It was his report of likely mine damage after his underwater dive to inspect a newly-sunken USS Maine at Havana that helped push the US into the Spanish-American War). Later in life, as a resident in Key West, he put his many skills to work for Pan Am to help get the just-born airline off the ground, serving ten years establishing bases around Pan Am’s routes. This wonderful American story has been overlooked for too long. Winner of the 2022 National Bronze Medal for Historical Fiction, awarded by the Military Writers Society of America.

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“[The Crash Detectives] will bolster your knowledge of the mysteries of air travel…Aviation journalist Christine Negroni uncovers behind-the-scenes stories of the industry’s most famous heroic saves, catastrophes and mysteries.” —The Wall Street Journal (Books Every Geek Should Read This Fall).

 

 

“An obsessive, decades-long struggle between two equally matched people is always fascinating, and especially when the prize they are fighting for is nothing less than the future of flight. We take the airplane’s defeat of the Zeppelin for granted, but in the Roaring Twenties and Dark Thirties it was anything but, and now, in a world aiming for carbon neutrality, we might even regret who won. Alex Rose is a historian with a scintillating prose style and an eye for the insightful, and often amusing, detail. Whereas dirigibles were heavy, ponderous, and full of gas, this book is the precise opposite.”

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This book is an excellent guide to the airline industry and how it evolved, a concise narrative of the industry from its beginnings to the present day. The focus is on regulations, historic events and influencing factors that shaped the field. Starting with the Wright Flyer, the book details early conventions and regulatory frameworks, the development of the commercial airline industry through the 1930s, World War II and the Chicago Convention. It takes us through to deregulation and liberalizing the industry, driven by economic factors that led to the formation of the so-called Sixth Freedom airlines, the airline alliances, and the low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers.

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Bryce Evans investigates an aspect of Pan Am’s service that was central to the company's success, its food; a gourmet glamour underpinned by both serious science and attention to the detail of fine dining culture. Modelled on the elite dining experience of the great ocean liners. Pan Am pioneered the design of hot food galleys and commissioned research into how altitude and pressure affected taste buds, amending menus accordingly. A tale of collaboration with chefs from the best Parisian restaurants and the wining and dining of politicians and film stars, the book also documents what food service was like for flight attendants, exploring how the golden age of airline dining was underpinned by a racist and sexist culture.

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A very comprehensive, completely enjoyable and smartly written historical romp covering a panoply of airborne gustatory experiences, from the Montgolfier Brothers' 1783 champagne celebration in their hot air balloon, right up to the exigencies of raising a toast in space with bags of recycled fluids, and most everything in between.

 

 

This book zeroes in on the days when the world’s glamorous high-flyers suddenly had a new magic carpet to ride, on Pan Am’s new Boeing 707 jets.

 

 

 

This visually appealing history of cabin design in commercial aviation, 1970s to the present, includes the influential introduction of Business Class on Pan Am’s Boeing 747 fleet, giving passengers a generous and distinctive travel experience, while setting a brand new standard for the airline industry.

 

 

Jack "flew the bush" for Pan Am in Alaska and piloted the majestic flying boats across the North Atlantic. He flew in the Aleutians during the war, and would return to serve in both the Air Force and the Navy in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. His "best day ever" with Pan Am was January 31, 1968, the first day of the Tet Offensive, when he made a daring landing with his 707 into besieged Saigon Airport and delivered more than 200 trapped Vietnamese--many of them women and children--to safety. "

 

 

“Loonshots” examines many things, including Pan Am and Juan Trippe.The book reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Along the way, readers will learn how chickens saved millions of lives, what James Bond and Lipitor have in common, what the movie Imitation Game got wrong about WWII, and what really killed Pan Am, Polaroid, and the Qing Dynasty.

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Reference  | Classic books  |  Biographies & Memoirs  |  Fiction  | 

Non-Fiction  |  Pictorial  |  Pan Am-Related Books |  Bibliographies