The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh

Starred review from December 1, 2019
The story of a flawed, complicated man. The son of a distant Minnesota congressman and a demanding, well-educated mother, young Charles Lindbergh grew up shuttling among the family farm, his grandfather's Detroit home, and Washington, D.C. Intelligent but uninterested in school, he began flying at age 19, getting involved in barnstorming and becoming an Air Service Reserve Corps officer. He used a combination of mechanical aptitude and moxie to successfully cross the Atlantic in a 1927 solo nonstop flight and was instantly propelled into worldwide celebrity. Success came at tremendous cost, however, when his infant son was kidnapped and murdered. Lindbergh was also his own enemy: His infatuation with eugenics led him into overt racism, open admiration for Hitler, and public denunciation of Jews. Fallen from grace, he nonetheless flew 50 clandestine combat missions in the South Pacific. He became an advocate for animal conservation but also had three secret families in addition to his acknowledged one. Fleming (Eleanor Roosevelt's in My Garage!, 2018, etc.) expertly sources and clearly details a comprehensive picture of a well-known, controversial man. Her frequent use of diaries allows much of the story to come through in Charles' and his wife Anne's own words. The man who emerges is hateable, pitiable, and admirable all at the same time, and this volume measures up to the best Lindbergh biographies for any audience. A remarkable biography. (bibliography, source notes, picture credits, index) (Biography. 12-adult)

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Starred review from December 23, 2019
Fleming (Strongheart) skillfully crafts a layered portrait of a controversial figure: Charles Lindbergh. Well-paced sections covering Lindbergh’s soaring popularity and plunging fall are divided into engaging segments. Passages about his early childhood establish his close relationship with his mother and the roots of his loner personality. In riveting detail and frequently quoting from Lindbergh’s diaries and his wife’s, Fleming relates his planning and execution of the solo transatlantic flight that made him the most famous man in the world, his marriage and the tragic kidnapping of his firstborn child, his obsession with engineering humankind’s immortality, and the existence of his multiple secret families. Fleming finely hones the stark contrast between Lindbergh’s rise and his fall from grace after he became fascinated with eugenics, sympathized with Hitler and the Nazis, and involved himself in America-first isolationist politics. A compelling biography of a flawed, larger-than-life man. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from January 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up- Build a wall. America First. Foreign invaders. While these phrases echo standard Trump rally talking points, they were first uttered by Charles Lindbergh. Fleming digs into her subject's complicated life to uncover his true character. Following the birth of aviation, the skies were dangerous and unruly. Anyone who wanted to fly could. Lindbergh heartily accepted the challenge: as a showman, an army pilot, an airmail pilot, and finally as the first man to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. His unprecedented feat turned him into an overnight sensation and also marked the beginning of his antipathy toward the press. Unfortunately, his fame brought tragedy when his first child was kidnapped and murdered. What followed was the original "trial of the century." Fleming's moment-by-moment narration of Lindbergh's flight and the loss of his child evokes excitement and grief. But there is more to his story. Lindbergh was the creator of an artificial heart, an early environmentalist, an advocate of eugenics, a Nazi sympathizer, and a leader of the America First Committee. He derided a free press and blamed American Jewish people for leading the country into war. He glorified fascism while claiming to be a patriot. This biography, told in short, easy-to-read chapters, at times reads like a suspense novel. Fleming successfully deconstructs the public persona of Lindbergh and highlights how some of the aviator's core values (nationalism, xenophobia) echo the country's current political and social unrest. VERDICT A must-read. Drawing on primary sources, including Lindbergh's own journal, Fleming has crafted a cautionary tale of the downfalls of hero worship.-Cathy DeCampli, Haddonfield Public Library, NJ

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Starred review from January 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Though Charles Lindbergh achieved fame and adoration as an accomplished American aviator, he was an overwhelmingly complicated figure. In an eminently readable, at times thrilling, and occasionally deeply disturbing biography, the widely acclaimed Fleming (Amelia Lost, 2011) returns to the skies. In the book's first section, she tracks Lindbergh's meteoric rise to American hero, from his solo flight from New York to Paris to his marriage to Anne Morrow and the kidnapping and subsequent death of their child. In the second half, she maps the fall: Lindbergh's growing disgust with the American press and his anti-Semitism led to an increased admiration of Hitler, and public opinion shifted as he advocated for isolationism and white nationalism. Throughout runs a common thread: as he crossed the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis, as he searched for his missing son, as he argued for eugenics and the environment in turn, Lindbergh was a man obsessed with ending death. Fleming, who takes care to shine the spotlight on Anne as an individual, states that she wanted Charles and Anne to speak for themselves; included dialogue propels the narrative and was taken directly from their journals and letters. Fleming places, in his historical context and ours, a man of intense contradictions. Absorbing and distressing in turns, this utterly prescient capture of a life?and the lives it influenced?is essential in classrooms and for history buffs alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)