Janet P. Reagan 2010-06-27

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

This will be included in our Book Club's selections for next year. We preview the books to be sure they're all right for our members and this certainly passed with flying colors! There will always be mystery about her disappearance and thus interest in the subject.

Linda Bulger 2010-06-05

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Susan Butler's 1997 biography of Amelia Earhart is enormously researched; the original edition was 512 pages and the Blackstone audio version runs nearly 19 hours. I was largely ignorant of Earhart's life story and that has now been corrected, though Butler's admiration of her subject may be slightly excessive.

The first section deals in depth with Earhart's family heritage and the circumstances that brought her forbears to Atchison, Kansas, where Amelia was born in 1897. Her girlhood is likewise documented extensively. Money worries plagued the immediate family as her father became an alcoholic and was not effective at supporting the family. In 1920 she moved to California where her parents had settled and had her first airplane ride. Determined to fly, she worked at a variety of menial jobs to fund her passion. She was a keen competitive flyer and promoter of aviation and of women's ability and right to compete.

Butler quotes liberally from primary sources. The sheer mass of material, though well presented, doesn't offer any specific premise about Amelia. We know that she was passionate about education for women; that she was an effective speaker and organizer; that she was reluctant to marry though not to fall in love; when she did marry George Butler, he acted as her agent and promoter. We know that she was an intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and was able to influence FDR on matters favorable to her lover, Gene Vidal. She wore celebrity as if it were a birthright, but also worked hard at it in the name of the causes important to her. The author steers clear of controversy and criticism of Amelia's personal life.

Besides the vast amount of detail about Amelia's life, East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart is a window into the history and culture of the United States from the turn of the 20th century and especially into the heady and dangerous early days of aviation. Butler's minutiae about Amelia's most famous flights are fascinating and the technical specifics of the equipment are presented in a satisfyingly accessible manner.

Though Amelia's final and fatal attempt to cross the Pacific is documented in the usual detail, the book ends with surprisingly little wrap-up. In the end I had the feeling that I knew almost too much about the woman, without knowing the woman well at all. Perhaps she was unknowable in some way. I recommend this book on many levels, but don't expect the rich lode of material to be synthesized into a tidy package; you'll have to do that yourself.

Linda Bulger, 2010

Janelle Humphreys 2010-04-29

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I received this book as a gift and finally got around to reading it, and I am so glad I did. Not only is this book about Amelia but also about the history of aviation. The book left me with mixed feelings about Amelia, she was both compassionate and self centered, a woman who found a way to live well ahead of her time. I enjoyed the book immensely and would recommend it. I wouldn't call it a page turner, but it kept my interest through out.

Richard R. Rutter 2010-04-28

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Having read a number of AE biographies, this one stands out as particularly fine. The depth of research is impressive. I'm not sure about the coverage of AE's relationship with Paul Mantz (my cousin).

J. Green 2010-01-21

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A few years ago, when I first began reading and reviewing biographies, I came across an unfamiliar word I had to look up in the dictionary - "hagiography." The first definition said "a biography of Saints" and the second "a worshipful or idealizing biography." And this book is an excellent example of a hagiography, especially that second definition.

Most people have heard of Amelia Earhart, famous aviatrix who vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world in 1937. I wasn't aware she was also a social worker and pioneer for women's rights. And parts of this book were interesting, such as her upbringing and efforts to reach new milestones of air travel, and the book description claims to have previously unknown information. The account of her disappearance was interesting, and doesn't wander excessively far into unsubstantiated theories. But the tone of the book is far too worshipful. Ms. Butler paints an Amelia Earhart who was always a self-assured, unflappable, imperturbable, cool and collected woman in easy control of all aspects of her life; who never had doubts or second-thoughts, regrets or misgivings. She portrays her marital infidelity as courageous, strong, fearless, and even practical. She seems to take all quotes at face value rather than showing any healthy skepticism expected of a historian. She spends too much time discussing Earhart's genealogy while the ending feels a bit abrupt. And it all seems too much to believe.

I'm not saying a biography has to expose dirt to be believable, but when the subject is portrayed as perfect it just doesn't feel realistic. In fact, reading between the lines, Earhart almost comes off as unpleasantly conceited and something of a celebrity press hound. Also, most of her flights seem mostly unremarkable. That may not be a fair conclusion, but a reader couldn't tell from this book. I'd rather learn about the struggles the person surmounted, personal and public, that makes their life and accomplishments worth reading about. I'd like to know the person was human. And this is too substantial of a book to invest time in (nearly 19 hours in audio book format) if it's not balanced or honest. If you're only interested in one Earhart biography like me, I recommend looking for a better one.