Lindbergh

Rating:
Summary: Sympathetic account of the "Lone Eagle"
Review: The subject of media attention throughout his life, Charles Lindbergh is a man whose legacy has been much defined by the images he left in the public imagination: his flight to Paris, the kidnapping and death of his son, his support of isolationism before the Second World War. Yet such events were only part of Lindbergh's astonishingly varied life, one that A. Scott Berg recounts in all its diversity.

Benefiting from access to Lindbergh's enormous collection personal papers (the consequence, Berg notes, of his desire to avoid distortions of his life), Berg provides a thorough account of his many activities, including his involvement in medical research and his support for environmental causes. His examination of the pilot's personal life is especially insightful; Lindbergh's wife Anne receives almost as much attention as her husband does, and Berg's account of their marriage is one of the great strengths of this book.

Yet there are many problems with the book. On occasion, Berg burdens the reader with details, clogging the text with irrelevant information about the minutiae of his subject's life (what his purpose was in detailing the layout of each place where the transient Lindbergh family lived escapes me). Moreover, he falls victim to a classic biographer's problem. Having immersed himself in Lindbergh's life, he views all of the events of the times through it, often overstating his contribution to them. Lindbergh comes across, for example, as the single greatest influence on the development of commercial aviation, yet were his ideas really that unique? And was Lindbergh really so dominant a media figure that his departure for Europe in 1935 launched a countrywide discussion on "the dismal state of the nation"? Berg's lack of critical analysis leaves such interpretations open to question.

Such flaws aside, Berg has written a good, sympathetic account of Lindbergh's life. Though readers will question some of the author's conclusions, this book will probably remain the standard work on the great aviator for decades to come.

Rating:
Summary: Too Simple for a Complex Man
Review: Raise your hands - how many people see Jimmy Stewart when you hear the name Lindbergh?

Yet, we'd have a hard time seeing Jimmy embracing Hitler, which Lucky Lindy did. There's a brand now book out now exploring an "alternate universe" scenario where Lindbergh is president. One hypothetical outcome of President Linbergh is pogroms in the United States. Makes McCartyism seem like getting off easy...

This book dwells on the heroic aspects of Lindy without dishing up the forces which would draw this "simple country boy" into a belief that fascism would save the world. It cannot be just the "law and order" mentality delivered by the horrendous kidnapping of his baby, which seems to be suggested here.

Nonetheless, read this book before you read the new one on "President Lindberg." Real history is sometimes more challenging but more fun that the fictional stuff, and this book is straight facts.

Rating:
Summary: an extraordinary man with extraordinary intellect & courage!
Review: Most of us only know Lindbergh as the man who made history by being the first to fly solo across the Atlantic, in that famous flight of 1927. On that alone, Lindbergh is a man to be praised for his courage, intelligence, heroism and perseverance.

However, there is much more to Charles A. Lindbergh than his enormous accomplishments as an aviator. In fact, the most interesting aspects of his life have nothing to do with aviation.

Scott Berg's biography describes these aspects of Lindbergh's life in an incredibly well-written book that flows from page to page. Within a few chapters, it's easy to see why this biography won the Pulitzer price. Berg is an expert at maintaining the right pulse, never boring the reader with too much detail while giving enough detail to present a thorough and accurate picture of Lindbergh.

But back to Lindbergh... I cannot say enough good things about this man. Sadly, the kind of selfless heroism found in Lindbergh is missing from society today.

As discussed in the book, Lindbergh became an adored celebrity across the world, after his record flight. The tragic kidnapping and murder of his first son, when the child was only an infant, was met with incredible support and empathy from thousands. Sadly, that all changed when Lindbergh began to courageously speak out against America's entry into the battles in Europe, pre-war. Lindbergh felt this was not America's war to fight. Plus, an even greater evil than Nazism existed -- the more tyrannical, more oppressive Communism in the Soviet Union -- and a war to topple Nazi Germany would only fortify and strengthen the Soviet Union (and so it did). More so, he felt America should only go to war to protect its own interests and when America itself was directly in danger. (Such was not the case with Nazi Germany, a sovereign nation that had not attacked us.) Lindbergh realized that, for reasons/influences lightly touched upon in the book, FDR was eager to go to war and pushing American public opinion in that direction. It took an enormous amount of courage for Lindbergh to speak out, along with many others of the America-First movement who were against the war. The press, predictably, pounced on Lindbergh, calling him a Nazi and a traitor. After Pearl Harbor and our declaration of war, Lindbergh felt that if we WERE going to go to war, and his efforts to prevent it had been unsuccessful, he would join the war effort. He immediately volunteered to join the armed forces yet spiteful FDR refused Lindbergh's valiant and noble offer.

One is also in awe of Lindbergh's selfnesses in that, for most of his career, he worked for little or no pay for the greater good of his country and Europe.

What a guy... THIS BOOK IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST-READ. Hats off to Scott Berg for an engrossing portrayal of this 20th century hero.