Amelia Earhart [Paperback]

Doris L. Rich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1996

She died mysteriously before she was forty. Yet in the last decade of her life Amelia Earhart soared from obscurity to fame as the best-known female aviator in the world. She set record after record—among them, the first trans-Atlantic solo flight by a woman, a flight that launched Earhart on a double career as a fighter for women's rights and a tireless crusader for commercial air travel. Doris L. Rich's exhaustively researched biography downplays the “What Happened to Amelia Earhart?” myth by disclosing who Amelia Earhart really was: a woman of three centuries, born in the nineteenth, pioneering in the twentieth, and advocating ideals and dreams relevant to the twenty-first.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Rich's portrait reveals a determined, independent woman, brave enough "to go where no one had gone and to do what no one had done" . . . [and] illuminates the public and private life of a legendary flier, bringing her back to earth as a courageous woman who dreamed and dared all.

Review

“[A] fast paced, richly detailed biography.”—Publishers Weekly

“Ms. Rich vividly evoke[s] the tragic aspect of Amelia Earhart.”—New York Times Book Review, Notable Book

“Earhart emerges as a complex, controversial, and fascinating flesh-and-blood woman of many facets. . . .Well-researched and intelligently written.”—Chicago Tribune

“Defines Amelia Earhart by her courage, generosity, and determination, and not by the way her life ended.”—American Heritage

“Rich's portrait reveals a determined, independent woman, brave enough ‘to go where no one had gone and to do what no one had done’ . . . [and] illuminates the public and private life of a legendary flier, bringing her back to earth as a courageous woman who dreamed and dared all.”—Scientific American

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian Press (October 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560987251
• ISBN-13: 978-1560987253
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Earhart, Amelia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amelia remains a legend, March 26, 2011

By 

Larry Siegel - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amelia Earhart (Paperback)

I've seen movies and read articles on Amelia Earhart and expected the book to cover similar ground on her life.
Surprised to find a legend who deserved by all measures of her character to be a heroine. Male biographers might have emphasized her flying skills and love of adventure. Doris Rich covered her social and emotional life in more detail than her flying feats. Too many heros are flawed people, she wasn't. I respect Amelia for her choices that benefitted her family, friends and country more than her own. She respected her fans and supporters with tireless public contact to be the best aviation spokesman in 1930's. This author tries to cover a complex persons life and gets the human side about right. Other books may detail the flying adventures better.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ameilia Earhart, September 12, 2009

By 

Joan F. Senffner (Plainfield ,Il) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amelia Earhart (Paperback)

Lots of unknown facts to me. She was a very interesting & ahead of her time woman. Great spirit!!!

20 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The persistent dream, March 18, 1998

By 

Jeff Hobbs ([e-mail]) (Washington, D.C. (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amelia Earhart (Paperback)

We live a World where every new technology is ogled at, studied, and reviewed months before it is on the market. We spend our time trying to find faster and easier ways to do things in the future. In a world like this, the past is given very little thought. I very much doubt your Wall Street sharpie could tell you a lot about the War of 1812, or the St. Valentine's Day massacre.

But the past is not lost. There are a few incidents, which remain with us today. One of these history-making events that are in the minds of all of us is the legacy of Amelia Earhart. She is with us because her dream and her story are eternal. Hers is the story of a hero. A woman venturing on a path that many of her male counterparts would never dare. But this book not only relates the heroic tale of this woman, but the dream she left us with. The dream of an existence that was not always cut and dry. Not just a Lawyer, or a accountant, or a housewife. We could be anything, if we reach for it, and feel it strongly enough in ourselves. And as her dream has persisted through the decades, so has her story, and her sprit.