“The field of academic air transport historical geography may be a very small one but Air Empire sets dauntingly high standards of scholarship and accessible, elegant prose”. Brian Graham Journal of Transport Geography, 18 (2010) p. 761“ … a thoroughly researched and well-written and illustrated volume which will appeal to a wide audience. Pirie convincingly recounts the tortuous path which led to the formation of imperial civil aviation, and the effect this had – not necessarily on Empire, but on the imaginations of Empire within Britain.” Federico Caprotti, African Affairs, 110 (2011), pp. 148-149.“[a] hugely informative and entertaining study”.Stephen Constantine, Twentieth Century British History, 2010."He skilfully interweaves a narrative history of imperial civil aviation with a fascinating exploration of less obvious topics" Journal of Historical Geography"a triumph for its author, and for the Studies in Imperialism series ..."Prof Ashley Jackson, review in Journal of Southern African Studies, 36 (4) (2010) p. 966