Based on the Graf Zeppelin's amazing round-the-world flight in 1929 - the first-ever passenger circumnavigation by air - the book tells the story of the Zeppelin airship: one of the most spectacular technological and operational marvels of its age. The year 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of the maiden flight of the first experimental Zeppelin airship. A further 115 giant airships were built and flown by the Zeppelin company (based at Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance in Germany) - mostly for the purposes of war - but the most successful and best loved was the second to last of them, Dr Hugo Eckener's round-the-world airship, Graf Zeppelin, the dream machine. Based on the reports and recollections of those on board, including Lady Grace Drummond Hay, an attractive young aristocratic English widow, and the man at the heart of the story, the airship's creator and commander Hugo Eckener, this book is both a romantic travel adventure and the story of a great scientific achievement.