The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight Author: Visit Amazon's Winston Groom Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1426211562 | Format: EPUB
The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight Description
Review
"This is a winner, combining an engaging narrative and appropriate documentation into one solid study of three iconic aviators and their times." --
Library Journal, starred review
"A gripping document of a brilliant era in our history and a few of the men who helped make it so." --
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“As Mr. Groom's absorbing narrative unfolds, we see one man enduring a horrendous ordeal on the open sea; another nearly losing his life in a bombing run; and yet another finding a sort of redemption for his battered public image.”
–
The Wall Street Journal“Winston Groom writes history like a novelist. Readers will appreciate his careful and accurate use of aviation and military terminology, and description of each aircraft in the narratives. Groom handles this complex subject in clear, understandable terms, woven into a great air war story.” –American Aviation Historical Society
"Groom is at his best sharing history through the personal stories of the people involved. Not only is this history a learning experience, it is a joy to experience the suspenseful adventures of these extraordinary aviators as they spent their lives developing and promoting aviation in this country. An important narrative not to be missed!" --Stephanie Crowe, Page and Palette Bookstore
This will be an alternate selection in History Book Club, Military Book Club, and Book-of-the-Month Club.
About the Author
WINSTON GROOM is the author of 14 previous books of nonfiction and fiction, including
Shiloh 1862, Vicksburg 1863, Patriotic Fire,
Shrouds of Glory,
Forrest Gump, and
Conversations with the Enemy (with Duncan Spencer), which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He lives with his wife and daughter in Point Clear, Alabama.
- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: National Geographic (November 5, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1426211562
- ISBN-13: 978-1426211560
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
For me this is like a Paul Harvey radio broadcast where he liked to enlighten listeners to "the rest of the story" as it were. Now I'm sure true historians and history buffs will not be shocked or surprised by the contents of this book. There are plenty of large volume bios and autobiographies available like Lindbergh, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography of James H. ""Jimmy"" Doolittle with Carroll V. Glinesand Rickenbacker: An Autobiography.
The three aviators featured are Eddie Rickenbacker,first fame as a champion race car driver and world war I hero, Charles Lindbergh , he of the first non stop flight across the Atlantic in 1927 and Jimmy Doolittle who pioneered flying without the aid of visuals , just by instruments in 1929.
This reader was familiar with the highlights only of each of these great aviators/men and so this book which touched on their early career heroics and then followed through with lesser known but not lesser interesting or lesser important involvements in WWII all in a snappy 400 plus pages was a very enlightening read and just the right length.
I had high hopes for this book, but I ended up being a little disappointed and questioning of the author's credibility. While giving an overview of German conquests early in WWII, he includes the assertion that Finland and Sweden were conquered by Nazi armies. First, Finland was a German ally throughout the war, and second, Sweden was famously neutral throughout the war! It's such an egregious factual error that it made me question the credibility of the rest of the book. He later asserts that a "significant portion of the American Army...including the 101st Airborne Division" was surrounded by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. Again, this is just plain dead wrong...the 101st was the ONLY division (of nearly 50) of the American Army in Europe surrounded by the Germans during that battle...or any battle, for that matter. These are issues of the most basic military history that he gets absurdly wrong.
I didn't keep notes, so those are the ones that stood out in particular, but there were others that weren't as patently obvious. He also seems to exaggerate the influence of the three Aviators at several points. For instance, he claims one was directed to inform air corps personnel during speeches in N. Africa and the Mediterranean theaters that their minimum tours had been extended. I highly doubt a visiting civilian would be tasked with personally informing thousands of airmen of a MAJOR policy change in their assignments. I suppose it's possible in the remotest sense, but I rolled my eyes at the likelihood of it.
He also claims the Doolittle raid essentially led to what ultimately became the Japanese defeat. Hmmm, every other historian and war leaders at the time agreed it's only real value was a morale boost...and nothing more.
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