Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg

Wow. This book deserved the Pulitzer Prize that it earned. (And may I be so shallow as to note that it has one of the most beautiful book covers that I have ever seen.) There is so much going on in this well-written book, because there was so much going on in Linbergh's life, that it is hard to know where to begin:

(1) Lindbergh was the first celebrity of the media age. The attention he received was amazing, unfathomable in this age of reality TV and blogs, where everyone, everyone, gets their fifteen minutes. His fame probably cost him his first born son. (A photographer actually broke into the morgue and took and later sold photos of the very decomposed corpse of his baby. Unbelievable.)

(2) The psychological effect of his flight is not something that anyone of my generation can easily appreciate.

(3) He was a jerk. By the end of the book, I hated him, with sorrow, because I admired him in the beginning. He allowed his wanderlust to torment his wife.

(4) I didn't realize that he was the main voice of isolationism in the years leading up to WWII. It was interesting (tho not convincing) to read of his reasons for opposing war: (1) that Germany was a buffer state against Russia (he had a very valid point, however, that Stalin had killed many more people than Hitler ever did/would) and (2) that he admired Germany's technocracy and thought that Hitler's excesses would end with his life. Early on, he was more or less a US spy (under the direction of Truman Smith--hey, I have a son named Truman Smith!) because his celebrity allowed him access to Germany's aviation facilities.

(5) Which brings us back to (1), about the media and celebrity. His sister-in-law noted that it only took 15 years for the press to take him 'from Jesus to Judas.' As an isolationist, he was branded anti-semitic (which appears to be partially true), a fascist (hmm. maybe. But you can understand his feelings about democracy after what the press had done to him . . .), and disloyal to his country (not true).

(6) At the end of his life, he became very interested in conservation and primative people, and he spent time living with several prehistoric tribes in various places around the world. Of course, now the man who previously wouldn't sign autographs or seek publicity was more than happy to sign letters asking for donations and make appearances to promote conservation. Was he finally using the press as they had used him, or was he just a hypocrite?

In general, I like the Thorough Biography Genre (favorites include Truman and John Adams). This is a fine addition to that list, and well worth the time to read. Because of the interesting philosophical issues raised by his life, mostly concerning politics and the media, this is one biography that would lend itself to discussion.