LINDBERGH: Flight's Enigmatic Hero

Lindbergh became one of the first media age celebrities after his 1927 transatlantic flight. This surprisingly thorough account of his life, packed into a concise illustrated volume, emphasizes the harrowing media scrutiny of the aviator. Hardesty, a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, quotes Lindbergh's own writings and those of his associates to piece together a straightforward, lively biography: Michigan childhood and barnstorming days in the 1920s, the history-making transatlantic flight, his collaboration with scientist Alexis Carrel to build a prototype for an artificial heart and his widely criticized work in Nazi Germany and agitation for American nonintervention in WWII. Hardesty describes Lindbergh as "a keeper of checklists," an intellectually curious, widely read man whose strong "impulse for control" made the loss of his privacy especially difficult—though he made use of his celebrity to publicly advocate for science funding, environmental conservation and other causes. Photographs, timelines and documents like Lindbergh's flight journal and passport illuminate key subjects: the design of the Spirit of St. Louis; the history of the prominent Morrow family, which Lindbergh married into; Lindbergh's friendship with the Russian aviator and aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky; and, of course, the kidnapping of Lindbergh's son. Published in time for the 75th anniversary of the historic flight, this album is a fine introduction to the aviator's mixed legacy. (Nov.)