Walter Sanford Ross

It is difficult for me to place a 4-5 star rating on a biography, so I rate most of them 'good' which this one certainly is. It was written, unauthorized, while Lindbergh was still living at age 67. Much of the material needed for a thorough biography was given by Lindbergh himself, according to the author, to Yale University and was unavailable to the public, so Ross has pieced together as much as possible from Lindbergh's own books, from newspaper and magazine articles, and from interviews with friends of Lindbergh who agreed to speak of him.

I found the book to be easy to read, and interesting. Ross clearly has a deep respect for his subject who became very private, almost a recluse, in his years following the historic flight from New York to Paris. Often viewed as a bigot and anti-semite, as well as a pacifist, Lindbergh is defended on these accounts by the author who explains how such opinions were possibly attached. Later chapters give a good look at Lindbergh's personality and family life, presumably from friend interviews.

This may not, since his death, be the 'definitive' work on Charles A. Lindbergh, but it is an honest and sensitive look at a man who really did not want to be seen as a hero, by a writer who had the greatest respect for his subject.… (mehr)