So Many Worlds: Invention, Management, Philosophy, and Risk in the Life of Leroy Hill

In the whole scheme of technology, Leroy Hill was a very small blip on the radar screen. Even in the more narrow discipline of aeronautics, the field in which he made most of his fortune, he was only a bit player. So when Craig Miner chose to write a biography of this man, he was choosing a rather esoteric figure in the history of technology. Who was Leroy Hill? What did he accomplish to warrant the writing of a biography? Before reading this book, I was in the dark regarding these questions. I dare say that most of you reading this review would admit to the same.

Leroy Hill (1894–1981) was raised in a middle class family, first in Michigan, and later in San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in mechanical engineering, and then set out on a lifetime career of engineering and business—with the emphasis on business. Hill’s primary objective in life was to make money. This did not come easily. By his own account, he was seriously involved in sixty-eight business activities throughout his long life—some of which would make him a wealthy man by the end of World War II. The highlight of his career was twelve years as president of Air Associates, a company that sold a variety of accessory equipment for aircraft, primarily via an extensive catalog—a type of Sears and Roebuck for the aviation field. Hill was personally responsible for the growth of this company from a small, garage-like outfit at Roosevelt Field in 1928 to a major supplier for the aircraft industry at the beginning of World War II. During the war, he founded and ran the Aircraft Standard Parts Company, which derived most of its profit from a hose clamp designed by Hill and used on the P-51 Mustang during the war. This clamp and his much earlier engineering work on the famous Liberty engine at the end of World War I seem to have been Hill’s most important technical contributions, worthwhile in their own right but hardly important enough to write a book about. Moreover, the author makes no attempt to put Hill’s technical contributions in scholarly perspective. This is perhaps because such connections are not there. For this reason, Craig Miner’s book is not an important contribution to the history of technology.

This book’s true value is in the history of business. Leroy Hill was first and foremost a businessperson. By his own admission, making money was the object of all his ventures. This book is a case history in business, which is no surprise considering that the author is the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University. It is in this vein that the book is important. Of particular note is the extended discussion about Hill’s conflict with labor unions, particularly the CIO, which ultimately brought about a government takeover of Air Associates and Hill’s summary dismissal. Another strength of the book is the insight into Hill as a person—a political conservative and an active member of far-right associations, including the John Birch Society.

Throughout most of his life, Hill kept a daily diary of his activities and thoughts, and carefully saved much of his correspondence. This is a treasure trove of primary material that Miner used to advantage, along with his many interviews with surviving members of Hill’s family. This is both good and bad: good because the reader is afforded a deeper insight into the personality and thinking of Leroy Hill, bad because the story tends to be somewhat biased towards Hill, since the author is so frequently looking through Hill’s eyes.

Some of the best parts of the book are the last few chapters, in which we see the older Leroy Hill as...