Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance

Book Description

In the seventy years since the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan during a flight over the Central Pacific, their fate has remained one of history's most debated mysteries. Dozens of books have offered a variety of solutions to the puzzle, but they all draw on the same handful of documents and conflicting eyewitness accounts.

Now a wealth of new information uncovered by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) allows this book to offer the first fully documented history of what happened. Scrupulously accurate and thrilling to read, it tells the story from the letters, logs, and telegrams that recorded events as they unfolded. Many long-accepted facts are revealed as myths.

Author Ric Gillespie, TIGHAR's executive director, draws on the work of his organization's historians, archæologists, and scientists, who compiled and analyzed more than five thousand documents relating to the Earhart case. Their research led to the hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan died as castaways on a remote Pacific atoll. But this book is not a polemic that argues for a particular theory. Rather, it presents all of the authenticated historical dots and leaves it to the reader to make the connections. In addition to details about the Earhart's career and final flight, the book examines her relationship with the U.S. government and the massive search undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy.

For serious students of Earhart's disappearance, an accompanying DVD reproduces the documents, reports, and technical studies cited in the text, allowing instant review and verification of the sources.

Customer Reviews:

non-scientists beware.......2007-09-11

This highly technical read is not for the mere curious reader or fan of this great American woman. This book contains a vivid picture of the search for America's sweetheart of 1937,Amelia Earhart and her navigator ,Fred Noonan. An intricate compilation of radio transmissions provides a picture of an overwhelmed search party, miscommunicated information and an under skilled pilot. This is not the whole picture and if one seeks a glimpse into the woman behind the incident this is not the book for you

Captivating read on Amelia's Misadventures.......2007-08-17

"Finding Amelia: the True Story of the Earhart Disappearance," Ric Gillespie, Naval Institute Press, Maryland, 2006, ISBN 1-59114-319-2, HC 242 pges., Notes 44 pgs., Index 8 pgs., Content & Forward 10 pgs., plus 40 B/W photos, map & DVD (for computer) to access photos, maps, logs of the Earhart misadventure.

A captivating narrative & chronicle of the flying life and times of pilot Amelia Earhart, both researched 18 years and written by Exec. Dir. of TIGHAR, an Internat. Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. We are provided detailed accounts of Earhart's two world flight attempts, neither successful, with the aviatrix's last contact being July 2, 1937 while enroute to Howland Isle from Lae, New Guinea and thence to California.

Glimpses are given of Amelia Earhart's quest for notoriety during her earlier years which found her intrigued by flying machines, seeking adventure, finding celebrity status & desiring increased role for American women. But, it is not a bibliography or even a book about Amelia. It is a book of Amelia's monomaniacal attachment to flying, her aeronautical skill confines, that emphasizes her attempts to encircle the globe, imprima her 2nd attempt going Eastward, departing Oakland, California on May 19, 1937 accompanied by navigator Fred Noonan in her Lockheed Electra 10E twin engine aircraft. There is detailed & documented accountings of the massive search by US Coast Guard and Naval ships & planes and detailed reference to ships' logs of communications, etc., and interviews with Ham Radio operators who credibly appear to have identified her signals. The many B/W photographs, maps and the DVD are commendatory to this scholarly study. A few readers may find the detailed readings, etc., of the ships' logs and radiocommunication transmission times and references to frequencies and harmonics confusing & tedious, but the author's intentions to present the factual data is preserved.

Amelia Earhart on Fantasy Island?.......2007-06-29

I have followed Mr. Gillespie's search for years, and it is, sadly, largely based on wishful thinking instead of facts, such as the fuel capacity of Amelia's Lockheed 10E Electra. Simply put, there is NO WAY it could have reached where he claims it is. The book is an interesting read, and reasonably well done, and there are some opposing viewpoints presented. Factually, though, it is an illusion (one that has paid Mr. Gillespie quite well for a long time). An entertaining read, but not historical research-just a flight of fancy--

Finding Amelia.......2007-03-19

The book is a good chronicle of the last flight, and what is (and isn't known). While there isn't anything really new that hasn't been covered before, the book is a good compliment to others previously published on the Earhart story. The focus on (mis)communications highlights the thread of errors that lead to the tragedy. The inclusion of the disc (a nice touch!) containing the source data allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Clarification on Amelia.......2007-01-10

Excellently written. Very informative. I think this book clears up why Amelia dissappeared. It is no mystery any more.

Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved?

Average customer rating:

"The Forensic Search for Amelia Earhart"
Welcome back, TIGHARs
HOW you solve the mystery is just as important
Fantastic, not at all dry!
I Couldn't Put This Book Down!

Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved?
King Thomas F.
Manufacturer: AltaMira Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance
Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved
With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart
Biography - Amelia Earhart (A&E DVD Archives)
Amelia Earhart

ASIN: 0759101310

Book Description

Can modern science tell us what happened to Amelia Earhart? The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has spent fifteen years searching for the famous lost pilot using everything from archival research and archaeological survey to side-scan sonar and the analysis of radio wave propagation. In this spellbinding book, four of TIGHAR's scholars offer tantalizing evidence that the First Lady of the Air and her navigator Fred Noonan landed on an uninhabited tropical island but perished before they could be rescued. Do they have Amelia's shoe? Parts of her airplane? Are her bones tucked away in a hospital in Fiji? Come join their fascinating expedition and examine the evidence for yourself! The new paperback edition brings the search up to the present, including tantalizing evidence of campfires and charred bones found on remote Nikumaroro.

Customer Reviews:

"The Forensic Search for Amelia Earhart".......2007-09-04

"Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved?", Udated 2004 Ed., Thomas F. King, et al., AltaMira Press, NY 2001, ISBN: 0-7591-0131-0, PB 374 pgs., plus 23 pg. Notes, 9 pg. Biblio., 20 pg. Index, & 104 B & W photos, illus. or maps., 6" x 9".

This is an academic work by a contingent of skilled scientific experts whose writings & basic investigative work was coordinated, in part & on behalf of TIGHAR (Int. Group of Historical Aircraft Recovery) & updated 2004. The 27 chapters describe a forensic approach to solve the mystery of aviatrix AE's disappearance enroute 2,223 miles to Howland Isle from Lae, New Guinea, July 2, 1937.

The book's format & length makes for difficult reading: -- it is based on best available scientific evidences & hypotheses of multiple disciplines of archeology, geophysics, aeronautics, anthropology, and review of both private & governmental archival information in addition to tabulating their search findings on tiny remote South Pacific Phoenix Isle "Gardner", but renamed Nikumaroro, or "Niku". Author was a principle TIGHAR investigator taking part in expeditions to Niku, & he writes with authority, -- having "been there, done that!"

Inclusion of more than 100 photos, illustrations, maps, etc., makes the reading more easily understood & tolerable: -- for it is not a book one picks up and being enchanted 'reads from cover to cover' without pause. For readers who want an up-to-date analysis of AE's disappearance this book is best read after the reader is thoroughly familiar with AE's character, avocations, skills, life experiences's and accolades by the press, politicians & the powerful, -- for Amelia was a complex person living in exciting, changing times on the cutting edge of new technologies.

Many of the chapters begin with stanzas of word parodies to be sung to certain melodies, attributable to TIGHAR but not author King. The parodies I found to be highly irregular, unsettling & not in best taste, so downgraded book from 5* to 4*.

Welcome back, TIGHARs.......2006-10-27

Those persistent TIGHARs are back with more suggestive but inconclusive research about what happened to Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 -- somewhere.
Every so often, somebody shows up in Hawaii with a kooky theory about Earhart, ranging from shot by the Japanese as a spy to still alive and keeping house in New Jersey.
The International Group for Historical Aircraft Recovery is far from kooky.
For one thing, they appear to have managed the trick of being zealous without becoming zealots. As lead author Thomas King puts it, "Most people have more pressing things to do" than hunt for a lost airplane that, given the odds, would more likely than not be under three miles of water.
The TIGHARs work, for free, in their spare time, on the assumption that, despite the geographical odds, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan didn't just run out of gas and sink under the ocean. They think Earhart missed her target but may have crash landed on an intermittently inhabited (but in 1937 empty) island named Nikumaroro, where Earhart and Noonan might have either survived for a while or been eaten by crabs.
It's "a mystery that can't be put down," King says.
But hard to pin down.
Since the publication of "Amelia Earhart's Shoes" in 2001, the TIGHARs have run down more physical evidence, including things that look a lot like panels from a Lockheed Electra, but nothing definitive yet. The revised, 2005 edition is preferred over the first edition.
The story of the hunt also reveals a great deal of fascinating information about the South Pacific, which is big, mostly empty and weird.

HOW you solve the mystery is just as important.......2006-09-26

Who says historical research and science have to be boring? In Amelia Earhart's Shoes, Dr. Tom King and others take us on a winding (sometimes loopy, even!) journey that tries to answer the question: What happened to famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart and renowned navigator Fred Noonan in 1937 after they vanished during her around-the-world flight attempt?

Amelia Earhart's Shoes does not pretend to solve the mystery - it does show that by applying the scientific method to a popular event, you can strip away all the myths and fables and assumptions and come up with relatively simple explanations that can be tested to see if they are true or false. That the scientific method may upset a few of those legendary apple carts along the way is proof that it works - something is either true or not true, provable or not provable. In Earhart's case, the truth may turn out to be much more mundane than some of the more colorful "solutions" to her disappearance would have us believe.

There is a lot of information in Shoes, but it is presented in an easy to read, almost chatty style (think ghost stories around the campfire while making s'mores) that keeps you turning the pages to see what the heck is going to happen next. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has now been to the South Pacific eight times to try and prove or disprove their hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan missed their destination, tiny Howland Island, and landed on another deserted island, only to die (or perhaps be completely missed) before the frantic searchers could get to them.

Amelia Earhart's Shoes is a great read that should be on the bookshelf of everyone interested in what really did happen out there in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean almost 70 years ago.

Fantastic, not at all dry!.......2006-05-02

I saw one of the people involved in this project speak at EAA's big national air show in Oshkosh, WI last summer. It was the most popular lecture session I attended while I was there. Interested, I picked up this book expecting a thorough but dry, academic read.

Was I ever wrong! This book is not only fascinating, it's funny! It's written with some dry humor that made me want to keep reading more. And the authors lay out a strong argument, to boot. It does make one wonder...

I Couldn't Put This Book Down!.......2002-05-03

I picked up this book at my library on a lark. I've always been interested in what really happened to Amelia Earhart, but always just assumed that her plane crashed into the ocean. This book, however, completely opened my eyes to a new hypothosis: that Amelia and her navigator managed to land on an island and send out radio signals for help. The information presented in this book isn't just wild guesses and conspiracy theories - the authors make a point of backing up their thoughts with cold, hard evidence. I was hooked from the first page and got so engrossed that I ended up not doing my work at my job just so that I could finish a few more chapters. The book also has a wicked sense of humor and debunks the myth that scientists are just stodgy old guys. I'd reccomend this book to anyone with even an ounce of curosity. I'm holding my breath until Dr. Tom King and the other authors put out another book on Amelia. I can't wait to see what they find!

Average customer rating:

"An Attentive Portrayal of Amelia Earhart"
Comments on Amelia by Goldstein and Dillon
Amelia: a woman of independence!!
It's How You Live NOT How You Die That Matters
Doesn't solve the mystery

Amelia: A Life of the Aviation Legend
Donald M. Goldstein , and Katherine V. Dillon
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

This intimate biography describes a compelling young woman who rejected society's traditional female role and how she overcame the stigma such independence brought her. Amelia Earhart inspired many to reach for the skies. Her indefatigable spirit was, and still is, an inspiration.

Customer Reviews:

"An Attentive Portrayal of Amelia Earhart".......2007-10-03

"Amelia: A Life of the Aviation Legend". D. Goldstein and K. Dillon, Brassey's, Washington 1999, ISBN: 1-57488-199-X, PC 288 pages, plus 10 pgs. Notes, Glossary, Biblio., Index and 33 suitable B & W photographs.

Both authors are well-published, and are excellent writers. Whilst a thorough coverage on Amelia is provided, emphasis is primarily focused on her character, but the book covers the usal A to Z's previously reported, thus nothing new was forthcoming. The Book is new enough to discuss some of the more recent searches including those by TIGHAR. The book is divided into 3 parts: I-Takeoff, II-High Flight, & III-Flight Into Mystery - and each part has chapters for easy reference.

I did not detect any especial errors or omissions or novel features in this writing, but it is a somewhat tedious, neutral-ground read: in short, a truly wordy but accurate and lengthy overview, one appearing to be largely a straight-forward journalistic compilation or recitation of everything reported in previous works. Fortunately, not too great of space was provided to the immediate search attempts as the explanation of the radio communication attempts, etc. is best left to technical expert's interpretations.

Comments on Amelia by Goldstein and Dillon.......2003-06-21

This is book worth reading because it incorporates for the first time in any published book the unpublished and uncompleted manuscript on Amelia and her disappearance entitled "Flight into Yesterday, the Amelia Earhart Enigma" by Laurence Safford, CPT USN (Ret). Safford was a famed cryptographer and a US Navy Intelligence Officer who gained fame for his role in intercepting Japanese codes prior to Pearl Harbor and for his insistance that Roosevelt and others had received the decoded "East Winds Rain" message signifying the imminent attack by the Japanese.

They also include for the first time in any book, significant information provided by Earhart researcher John Luttrell.

The book by Goldstein and Dillon makes good use of both Safford's manuscript and Luttrell's information and correspondence, but also incorporates several mistakes that Safford and Luttrell made and their (Goldstein and Dillon) book should be read with an awareness that it is not the final authority and that there are other books published concerning Earhart's disappearance that should be read for a balanced opinion of any conclusions. Those would include "The Search for Amelia Earhart' by Fred Goerner, "The Sound of Wings" by Lovell, "Amelia Earhart, The Mystery Solved" by Long and Long, "Amelia Earhart, The Final Story" by Loomis with Jeffrey Ethell, and "With Our Own Eyes, Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart" by Campbell with Thomas E. Devine.

Amelia: a woman of independence!!.......2001-12-07

(...) As soon as I started to read this book I couldn't set it down. It was really and truly inspirational, it shows you don't have to be a man, to do something thats considered a man's job, all you need, is determination and to have your heart in soul in it... but most of all do it for fun, do it becasue you love it! I read a lot of books and I know that you always have something to say or a lesson you get out of the story. Out of this book I've gotten knowledge of women heroes, of women leaders, and it also showed me to do what i want to do, when I want to do it, because you will regret it later. That's why I gave this book review 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!!

It's How You Live NOT How You Die That Matters.......2000-09-20

What makes a person become a pioneer? What was it like to be the FIRST PERSON to fly solo from California to Hawaii? The 1930's were a time very different from ours, but people still have to reach for the best within themselves. This is were this book reaches new ground. The authors have stripped the layers of myth away to reveal the wonderful and gifted human being that Amelia created. Trusted and respected author/historians Goldstein and Dillon (those wonderful folks who gave us the Pearl Harbor books, Photohistories of D-Day and Battle of the Bulge,etc) turn their trained and impartial eyes on this most enigmatic person. (The book has extensive notes and a bibliography). Amelia believed a women's place was equal to that of a man's, in not only aviation, but in all areas of American life.

Doesn't solve the mystery.......1999-12-14

I read this book with high expectations, being familiar with Goldstein and Dillon from their earlier works with Prof. Gordon Prange on the Pearl Harbor attack. As a short biography of AE it passes muster; however as a serious attempt to investigate her disappearance in 1937 it falls short. The authors rely almost completely on an unpublished manuscript by Capt. Laurence Safford USN (famous to Pearl Harbor conspiracy buffs from his role in the "East Wind Rain" controversy). In the few places where this source is quoted directly, serious errors can be detected. For instance on p.236, Safford rejects the generally accepted theory that Earhart's 157-337 line of position was a sunrise observation by Noonan, on the grounds that she was using magnetic bearings and "A discrepancy of nine degrees is hard to swallow". On p.239 we learn that the difference between true and magnetic bearings near Howland Is. is exactly nine degrees! It is clear from this that Earhardt and Noonan were following the standard practice in celestial navigation of working in true bearings. Evidently none of the authors or editors had even a cursory knowledge of air navigation. These kinds of errors make me doubt all the information in this book.

Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism

Average customer rating:

Whose taking advantage of Earhart's loss?
Fabulous

Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism
Susan Ware
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Coming of Age in Mississippi
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation
20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship
Amelia Earhart
Life Writing

ASIN: 0393312550

Customer Reviews:

Whose taking advantage of Earhart's loss?.......2007-02-23

That Amelia Earhart disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on an around the world flight in 1937, insures her a prominent place in mankind's collective memory. The mystery of what really happened is still unknown sixty-six years later and what actually occurred most likely will never be resolved. Too much time has passed and any evidence likely is lost to the elements. That is not to say that people have given up the search. As recently as 2001 a book by Karen R. Burns, Randall S. Jacobson, Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved, will likely not be the last.

There is more to her memory than the fact that she disappeared. She was one of the first female pilots in America. She was the first female to cross the Atlantic initially as a passenger and later alone. Amelia Earhart was only the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She emerged as a promoter of aviation in its early years and pursued a career based on her fame as a female aviation pioneer.

The sobriquet "Lady Lindy" underscores the comparison to Charles Lindbergh and his flight from New York to Paris in 1927. In one respect they were very different. "Lindbergh never reconciled himself to the demands of being a public figure, while Earhart accepted her public stature and made it work for her and women in general."(22) These two precepts, her gender and publicity, point to the core of Susan Ware's book, Still Missing, Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism. That Earhart was a well-known female spokesperson and roll model in the 1930s contributed to the cause of feminism during a time between "suffrage activism and the revived feminism in the 1960s and 1970s."(13)

Amelia Earhart was a popular heroine. She served as an example for personal achievement. She was courageous and brave and she was a woman. It was a time when women's advancement was forged by personal achievement.

The accomplishments of women as disparate as Babe Didrikson, Gertrude Ederle, Katharine Hepburn, Dorothy Thompson, Martha Graham, Georgia O'Keeffe were widely reported as evidence of the ongoing advancement of the modern, post suffrage women. Individual achievements substituted for, and also sustained, the feminist momentum.(25)

There were long periods during which Amelia Earhart was not in the press, but she was active making speeches, writing and engaging in business promotions. Key to her marketability was her marriage to publisher George Palmer Putnam. Feminists view her relationship as a "modern marriage" with freedom for each to pursue their independence. Nonetheless, it appears he controlled many aspect of her life in promoting her to the public as the best female pilot. This was the key to her public image. From this everything followed. However, it brings into question her real independence despite her protestations to the contrary. Was she in fact as free and independent as she and author Ware claim? Ware acknowledges Putnam's proclivity for control, but doesn't attribute to him any limits to her freedom. Theirs was an acknowledged marriage of convenience and one wonders if she ever loved him at all. However this is not a problem with modern feminists and Earhart, as a spokeswoman, is more central to Ware's study.

Making a living in aviation in the late 1920s and 1930s was not easy. Her counterpart, Charles Lindbergh served as a consultant for Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). It was advertised as the "Lindbergh Line." Amelia signed on with TAT as well but with the traffic department. In contrast to Lindbergh's substantive contribution to the corporation, her job was largely ceremonial. Later she worked for the Ludington Line, but this line was sold to Eastern Air Transport in 1933. Her job there was to overcome women's reticence to flying. Ironically "in order to get women into the air as passengers, she was forced to rely on traditional gender stereotypes that exaggerated the differences between men and women." (71)

Most women in flying became stewardesses. Women who wanted to be pilots were handicapped by "the two T's - tradition and training." (75) Childhood conditioning contributed to discrimination. The case of Helen Richey, a copilot for Central Airways, is instructive. Male pilot complaints encouraged the Aeronautics Bureau of the Department of Commerce to issue an advisory allowing female airline pilots to only fly in fair-weather. Richey resigned. "After Richey's resignation women were shut out of cockpits of scheduled airlines for the next thirty years."(78)

Female ability was demonstrated during air races some of which were with men and women and others just for women. Amelia Earhart, with Helen Richey flying with her as copilot, came in fifth in the 1936 Bendix race. In 1937 Louis Thaden and copilot Blanche Noyes won over all the men! Competition among women led to new records. The Ninety-Nines, an organization for women only, served as a support and advocacy group.

What was the nature of Amelia Earhart's career? Fundamentally it was self-promotion from which endorsements flowed. Her agent was also her husband George Putnam. She was a speaker, a college councilor, magazine writer, and, as one commentator said, she became "caught up in the hero racket." (201). Probably a close comparison to her aviation career was that of Roscoe Turner's. Turner bowed out of speed racing and managed to live a full life. Similarly, when the qualities of individualism and daring which contributed to Earhart's early fame were no longer helping her image, she planned her flight around the world. She anticipated it would be her last, but not, of course, in the manner in which it was culminated. She would settle down to more routine flying when she returned, so she thought.

Some critics debunked the flight as nothing more than a publicity stunt. "She said the main object of her flight was to establish the feasibility of circling the globe by commercial transport." (215) The only real significance to the flight was that it meandered along a route near the equator, which was longer than any others that had been flown. And, of course, she was a woman. Otherwise it was not unique. "Between 1924 and 1933 six expeditions had circle the globe, including two by Wiley post in his Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae." (214)

The expedition started out badly. On take off from Hawaii she ground looped the Electra and had to return it to the Lockheed factory in California for repairs. It was decided to reverse the route, and for weather reasons, the new departure date had to occur before the end of May. There were many details to take care of and with all the preparations, Amelia began her flight fatigued. As she progressed around the world she and Noonan flew by day. Stops included San Juan, Venezuela, Dutch Guiana, Brazil, across Africa, India and Australia. From Lae, New Guinea they were to fly to the Howland Island and then on to Hawaii. Howland Island was selected because it was within flying range of New Guinea and Hawaii. Facilities had been prepared for them, but a radio beacon was not installed because it would delay the flight.

The leg to Howland Island was 2,556 miles and Earhart and Noonan planned to use islands for navigation during the day and celestial and dead reckoning at night. The coast guard cutter Itasca made radio contact with the flight but they were unable to get a bearing. Radio communication was never established but messages indicated a worsening situation over the course of the next six hours. Earhart and Noonan were confused about there position and fuel was getting low. When they were presumed lost a weeklong search was commenced without ever finding a trace of them. The loss made front-page news for ten days but "public interest lagged in the immediate aftermath of her disappearance and presumed death."(225) Since then various theories have persisted to explain her disappearance and new ones crop up. She is in fact, as Ware's title proclaims, Still Missing.

Ware, in the final pages of her book, speculates on what Amelia Earhart may have done with the rest of her life. Undoubtedly she would have continued promoting aviation and speaking out on the role of women as she had been doing all along. Ware, in writing her book, seeks "to rescue Amelia from the clutches of the cult of her disappearance and to refocus attention on her life itself."

Ware does focus attention to Earhart's accomplishments in fostering women's equality with men, but there seems to be a contradiction that underlies her story. On the one hand Amelia Earhart is portrayed as an independent women in a new field who performs as an equal to men. Indeed she is very brave and becomes the most famous and remembered female aviator. But in reading the book, the reader finds her husband, Putnam, choreographs her actions. She seemed to allow herself to be manipulated by him. Ware quotes Florence "Pancho" Barnes, "She was a goddamned robot. Putnam would wind her up and she would go and do what he said." (93)

One wonders if, in her book on feminism, Ware isn't using Earhart to make her own point and not to refocus attention from her disappearance at all. In the final analysis, after reading Ware's account, I am left with a sense of admiration for Amelia Earhart's bravery, but not much else. Ware, rather than rescuing her from the cult of the disappeared, uses her disappearance to announce that feminist equality is still missing. Isn't that taking advantage of her loss, just like the cult of the disappeared?

Fabulous.......2000-04-27

Susan Ware's biography of Amelia Earhart is engagingly written, never dull, and full of insights about how Earhart's life reflects the development of feminism in the United States. Anyone interested in women's biographies will find this book fascinating.

With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart

Average customer rating:

Alex V. Mandel

With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart
Mike Campbell , and Thomas Devine
Manufacturer: Lucky Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance
Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved?
Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident
Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved
Lost Star: The Search for Amelia Earhart

ASIN: 0970637764

Book Description

Mike Campbell thoroughly and cleary examines the many eyewitness accounts by U.S. servicemen and natives who saw Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan and their plane on the island of Saipan after the time the U.S. government declared the Electra to have crashed at sea.

Customer Reviews:

Alex V. Mandel.......2004-02-29

I am interested in Amelia Earhart and her disappearance mystery for 21 years. I have read this book and my impression is very positive.
During decades there were a lot of books, articles etc. written about this subject (Earhart's disappearance), but alas too frequently they were overflooded by rumors, baseless guesses, stretches and speculations without any firm factual support.
The Mike Campbell's book is principally different. It is based on firm first-hand evidence from many independent sources, whose credibility gives no food for doubts - there are former US Soldiers, who really were on the place of events and saw what they saw.
The book is free of guesses and speculations - authors doesn't builds some "versions" or "theories" but just presents the data obtained by them during many years from many independent sources, with extensive details, and the book includes many written reports and official documents.
As result the book gives a very complete and convincing picture about What Happened with Amelia Earhart. The book is written with clear accuracy and respect to facts and to the "subject" of the book - the great heroine of 20th century and US history, whose name alas was already too frequently used for unfair speculations of any sorts. Mike Campbell's book makes an extremely good job for to correct this sad error.
I would highly recommend this book for anybody interested in this great mystery.
Alex V.Mandel

Average customer rating:

Excellent

Who Was Amelia Earhart? (Who Was...?)
Kate Boehm Jerome
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0448428563

Book Description

Amelia Earhart was a woman of many "firsts." In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1935, she also became the first woman to fly across the Pacific. From her early years to her mysterious 1937 disappearance while attempting a flight around the world, readers will find Amelia Earhart's life a fascinating story.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2003-03-21

My 7 year old son could not put this book down! He read the entire book in one afternoon, and then was able to complete his biography project for school without any additional research. The book brought Amelia Earhart to life; it was comprehensive and interesting, with so many insights that I had never known before. There were also numerous sketches and maps which would keep a youngster engaged throughout the book. This book gets a resounding "WOW!" from us.

Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart

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"Bittersweet, a Poignant Story & Diary of Past Remembrances"
Awesome Reading
A history lesson on the Putnams and Amelia Earhart
I Lost Interest ...
Much Ado Over One Woman's Family Connections.

Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart
Sally Putnam Chapman , and Stephanie Mansfield
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship

ASIN: 0446520551

Customer Reviews:

"Bittersweet, a Poignant Story & Diary of Past Remembrances".......2007-09-16

"Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart", by Sally Putnam Chapman, Warner Books, NY 1997. ISBN: 0-446-52055-1, 266 pgs., HC plus 60 B/W photographs, 9 1/4" x 6 1/4".

The author, Sally Putnam Chapman, step Granddaughter of Amelia Earhart, writes a passionate story of her Grandmother, Dorothy Binney Putnam (DBP), 1st wife of her Grandfather George Palmer Putnam (GP). Much of the authoress's material was obtained from 10 diaries entrusted to her by Grandmother Dorothy.

The '20s and '30s were momentous times, periods of profound societal unrest of all sorts, including the Great Depression, witnessing development of aviation as an industry, world travel, industrialization, feminist and/or equalist movements, and strivings to become included or a part of those wealthy social family circles & networks that in turn both craved and provided acclaim and opportunity to adventurers, explorers, writers and the like - most importantly to the likes of aviatrix Amelia Earhart (AE) and publicist/writer George Putnam (GP).

In this book we learn Dorothy had unfulfilled sensual cravings in her marriage to GP, even prior to AE entering the picture, and we learn of her despondency, depression and passions which consumed her: -- we discover she is unappeasable as a mere observer, housewife and unwilling to simply grow old(er) without establishing her own mark in the world - we are led to believe this was in part due to her own Mother's unkind remarks that she was not pretty and so should depend on acquiring conspicious skills to compensate and compete as an adult, -- something she did do extraordinarily well, even admirably so, in so many tasks that included outings, party-gatherings, flying, club organizations, athletics, writings, agriculture, & many social graces including piano.

The book runs amok what with the multiple marriages, flings & affairs, & divorces, etc. of both GP and DBP. It is an excellent read and subject to personal interpretation of the psychological ruminations and troubles of many, where envy, competitiveness and even ghosts seem to play a part. AE emerges unscathed and in the end, a forgiveness by DBP and DP prevails -- to each his own and in their own times -- a comely philosophy permits yet another generation to register their paths.

Awesome Reading.......2001-09-06

The time and research it must have taken to write this book is commendable. We have a read so much about Amelia but to hear about Dorothy and the incredible life that she lead was truley facinating. I would highly reccomend reading this book.

A history lesson on the Putnams and Amelia Earhart.......2000-03-27

This is the story of the Putnam family and Amelia Earhart. George Putnam eventually married Amelia, but prior to that was her publicity director and writer of her adventures. Also interesting to learn is the Putnam family was huge in the publishing industry back then but also have a part in the invention of Crayola crayons. Much of the book is Dorothy's diary, which makes it kindof a slow read.

I Lost Interest ..........1999-01-15

I've read many books about the great aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. This one tells of Amelia's role in an already failed marriage, much like our country has given us the personal failures of our own President. Although the connection to Amelia is the lure of the book, the story is based more on the author's free-will interpretations of her grandmother's diaries -- what she must have thought, reacted, felt. The entries, in Dorothy's voice, seem distorted with many episodes, imagined. Should everyone's diary be at the mercy of their relative's own interpretations after their death? If the grandmother had written from memory, exactly how it was, would the story change? Dorothy's diary held the details of a troubled life (for a woman of privilege), still (without her input) and the author's self-promoting connection as a the distant "step-great-granddaughter" is hardly the stuff of interesting literature. I would recommend readers acquire actual biographical books to satisfy real curiosity about the lives of deceased heroes.

Much Ado Over One Woman's Family Connections........1999-01-15

This book begins with a touched-up photo on the cover, meant to superimpose the characters upon each other. How much of the assumptions about how Dorothy Putnam felt or how she really reacted in her status as a publisher's wife can a reader believe? Surely, there is a story in Amelia Earhart's life for all time, but this book seems to be a sort of self-promotion for the author's distant family connections -- the (yet-unborn) great granddaughter of the (already deceased) Amelia Earhart. If the book were written based on Dorothy Putnam's own version of the story or Amelia's version, it might be more believable. Still, it is always interesting material to delve into anyone's personal diary -- famous or not....

20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship

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20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship
Amelia Earhart
Manufacturer: National Geographic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation
Amelia Earhart
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Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved

ASIN: 079223376X
Release Date: 2003-06-01

Book Description

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of her first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, 20 Hrs., 40 Min. reintroduces Amelia Earhart—one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century—to a new generation of readers.

Through her candid voice and fresh prose, Earhart recalls the events that led to her passion for flight. Moved by the tragedy of World War I, Earhart left high school to work in an army hospital in Canada. It was the golden age of aviation—a time when people still stopped on the street at the sight of an airplane gliding overhead, and Earhart was captivated by the goings-on at a local airfield. Her fascination quickly escalated; she took her first flying lesson in 1920 and by 1928, just one year after Charles Lindbergh made his famous transatlantic flight, Earhart boarded the Friendship with Will Stultz to become the first woman to accomplish the feat. Their achievement catapulted Earhart to international celebrity.

Using expanded entries from her flight book—written in pencil in the dark—Earhart relates the story of how she became connected with the Friendship flight and what she wanted to accomplish, which included earning recognition for women aviators. With a new National Geographic flight map, historic photos from the crossing, and Earhart's irrepressible voice, 20 Hrs., 40 Min. is a refreshing glimpse into this icon's remarkable spirit of adventure.

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A FASCINATING AND WELL RESEARCHED BOOK
amelia earhart
A sensible answer at last
Crash or splash?
THE STRENGTH OF A WOMEN

Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved
Elgen M. Long , and Marie K. Long
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance
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Amelia Earhart
Biography - Amelia Earhart (A&E DVD Archives)

ASIN: 0684860058

Book Description

When Amelia Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, she was flying the longest leg of her around-the-world flight and was only days away from completing her journey. Her plane was never found, and for more than sixty years rumors have persisted about what happened to her.

Now, with the recent discovery of long-lost radio messages from Earhart's final flight, we can say with confidence that she ran out of gas just short of her destination of Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. From the beginning of her flight, a series of tragic circumstances all but doomed her and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Authors Elgen M. and Marie K. Long spent more than twenty-five years researching the mystery surrounding Earhart's final flight before finally determining what happened. They traveled over one hundred thousand miles to interview more than one hundred people who knew some part of the Earhart story. They draw on authoritative sources to take us inside the cockpit of the Electra plane that Earhart flew and recreate the final flight itself. Because Elgen Long began his own flying career not long after Earhart's disappearance, he can describe the equipment and conditions of the time with a vivid first-hand accuracy. As a result, this book brings to life the primitive conditions under which Earhart flew, in an era before radar, with unreliable communications, grass landing strips, and poorly mapped islands.

Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved does more than just answer the question, What happened to Amelia Earhart? It reminds us how daring early aviators such as Earhart were as they risked their lives to push the technology of the day to its limits -- and beyond.

Download Description

Earhart's last days are recreated in gripping detail, based on the authors' expert knowledge and a recently discovered report of the final leg of her fateful around-the-world flight.

Customer Reviews:

A FASCINATING AND WELL RESEARCHED BOOK.......2005-10-15

This fine book by Elgin Long and his wife Marie is by far the most sensible and logical of all the works on this great mystery. It starts with the story of the last leg of her flight from Lae, New Guinea, to tiny Howland Island, a speck in the vast Pacific. It then goes back to trace the origins of the flight, the many personalities involved and the varied possible causes for the tragic loss of this great Aviator. As a pilot I found the navgational detail very useful although some may find it tedious.

Mr. Long is currently working with Nauticos Corp. conducting a deep sea search for the Earhart plane. Filmmaker James Cameron (Titanic) is also involved in this project. I personally think that the plane will be found someday. This outstanding work belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the Earhart mystery.

amelia earhart.......2003-02-12

I'VE READ ABOUT TWENTY BOOKS ABOUT EARHART'S DISAPPEARANCE AND THIS IS THE BEST BOOK BY FAR! IF YOU ONLY READ ONE BOOK ABOUT AMELIA EARHART AND FRED NOONAN THIS IS THE ONE TO BUY.

A sensible answer at last.......2001-02-14

Very reminiscent of Gerald Posner's 'Case Closed' this book shows that an apparently unanswerable question can be answered if informed knowledge is brought to bear with clear logic and meticulous research. A fascinating and 'factual' analysis of the doomed aviatrix' last mission and a plausible explanation for the end. The Longs have written what must be considered the 'definitive' book on this undying mystery.

Crash or splash?.......2000-03-24

`The wing tips wobbled slightly, and suddenly the plane began veering to the left with increasing speed...it swung around and tilted with its right wing tip almost almost scraping the mat. The right landing gear suddenly collapsed, followed shortly by the left gear, and the plane slid on its belly. A shower of sparks spurted from the airplane...' Honolulu, March 1937, and Amelia Earhart's plane Electra has just crashed while attempting to take off on a test flight. The crash was bad news for the famous American woman aviator and her team: it meant they had to approach their financial backers for more funds to repair the plane if Earhart was to fly around the world. They got the money, of course, but worse was to come: Earhart and her navigator disappeared four months later on July 2, 1937, on the longest stretch of their epic trans-global flight. Since then what exactly happened to the Electra and its occupants has been a mystery. One of the stranger rumours have been that Earhart and her navigator were captured and spirited away by the Japanese, who had rather frosty relations with America in the days before Pearl Harbour and World War 2. But here the authors claim to solve the mystery: according to their reckoning, and backed up with a swag of maps, radio transmissions and estimates, they say the Electra simply ran out of fuel somewhere around their destination of Howland Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The plane (and the remains of its occupants) are lying 17,000 feet below the water somewhere around the tiny island. The mystery, of course, is why did it happen? Long-distance flying was extremely dangerous in those days, but it wasn't complete guesswork: Earhart had the latest and best radio, planned her flights with great care and had support and encouragement from the highest levels. However, several factors - minor on their own - all contributed to the disaster that took place. The Electra's radio equipment was so new it didn't have an accompanying instruction manual. Navigator Fred Noonan was relying on a map which showed Howland Island six miles west of where it really was. The wind was slightly stronger than Earhart thought it was, thus pushing her further away from the right direction. There was a US Navy vessel near the island, but radio contact between it and Earhart was sporadic, and they never saw each other. The book is very detailed, and contains a lot of technical information. There is much talk about mile radius, azimuth and radio frequencies. The authors do a sterling job of explaining the technical stuff where necessary while narrating an exciting tale. One of the later chapters examines the `area of uncertainty' the Electra had to grapple with on its last flight: the agonising calculations that Noonan would have performed in an effort to determine where the Electra was, and where Howland Island was. The Electra is still at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. Despite the careful research, the mystery of Earhart's last flight won't fully be solved until the plane is found - as with our own Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his Lady Southern Cross. `Is the emergency equipment still there? Are there any signs of remains? There are dozens of questions that can be answered only be recovering the plane,' the authors conclude.

THE STRENGTH OF A WOMEN.......2000-01-09

I FIND THE BOOK VERY INTERESTING, EXCITING. IT REALLY MAKES YOU THING ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED\ IT SHOWS THE STRENGTH OF WOMEN BACK THEN. IT WOULD BE NICE TO ACTUALLY FIND THE PLANE AND SETTLE ALL THE CONTROVERSE, TO FINALLY GET CLOSURE. GREAT BOOK.

Average customer rating:

Amelia Earhart; a Report

Manufacturer: Britnav Services
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

This is the first report on Amelia Earhart to include a diversionary flight over the Truk and Kwajalein Atolls in the Caroline and Marshall Islands.

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