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Biography & Autobiography. Transportation. Nonfiction. Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly, and deadly, pursuit. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky. O'Brien weaves together the stories of five remarkable women: Florence Klingensmith, a high school dropout who worked for a dry cleaner in Fargo, North Dakota; Ruth Elder, an Alabama divorcee; Amelia Earhart, the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled; Ruth Nichols, who chafed at the constraints of her blue blood family's expectations; and Louise Thaden, the mother of two young kids who got her start selling coal in Wichita. Together, they fought for the chance to race against the men-and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all.… (more)
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This book follows the careers of Florence Klingensmith, Ruth Elder, Ruth
his book is sn excellent addition to the stores of women overcoming great odds to live life to the fullest.
O'Brien's choice of the women he follows provides a cross-section of independence and determination to succeed in a male-dominate profession and sport. In the years following the suffrage movement, and the win allowing women the right to vote, many women strove to show that women were the equals of men. This included the fledgling field of aviation, which after the First World War, exploded in popularity. O'Brien's narrative follows Florence Klingensmith, Ruth Elder, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols, and Louise Thaden as each struggles to set records, and fight the chauvinism inherent in early aviation. Of these five women (and the many others that O'Brien touches on in the book) I only knew about Amelia Earhart. Like most Americans she is the one that seems to fill the history books, even though she may have not been the most skilled of the pilots. She is remembered because she made the most headlines, but many of the others not only paved the way for Earhart, some were better pilots. O'Brien also does a wonderful job of not only showing the struggle the women faced to get even the least bit of recognition, but also highlights America's passion for all pilots at the time, who routinely pushed the edge of aviation and the limits of their skills and planes. Many men (and women) gave their lives in this pursuit, and O'Brien does a wonderful job of detailing the world of aviation during this Golden Age.
Fly Girls is a informative, entertaining, and exciting read about the history of aviation and the very important role that women played in it. Keith O'Brien's narrative keeps your interest in the women's lives, as you struggle along with them in their pursuit of recognition as pilots. More than simply a book of historical facts and figures, we are let into the many personal aspects of the women and the men who either helped or hindered (sometimes both) their struggle for recognition. In the end I cheered along with the many spectators of the 1936 Bendix Air Race as a woman, competing equally with the men, won the most prestigious air race in the nation at that time.
I highly recommend Fly Girls to any reader with an interest in history, including aviation history or the history for women's rights.
I received an advance copy of the audio book edition of Fly Girls from the publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review. The audio book was narrated by Erin Bennett who did a wonderful job of bringing the past lives of so many people to life. The CDs I listened to had a minor issue of static and clicking on the audio tracks on the first CD, but all of the rest had no problems with the audio quality.
Well narrated by Erin Bennett, the story focuses on the women's battle to be able to fly in air races against men,
Told in a matter-of-fact historical way with little embellishment, this book is a powerful narrative about the courage and perseverance of women aviators in the decade 1927-1937.
They were all fighting an
Well narrated by Erin Bennett, the story focuses on the women's battle to be able to fly in air races against men,
This book was a bit slow at times. It seemed to cover many more people than the five listed. I had to read the back cover to see who the five where, as the book didn't show any consistency with the women it was featuring. The book continually seemed to get bogged down with details of others. Only two of the five women featured were well covered and well hashed out. It didn't feel as if the author was able to do much more than recite facts previously published. Overall, a bust.
I really liked how this book followed many well-known (and
For similar, yet different, books about women's important roles in the shaping of our history, I would also recommend similar books such as Hidden Figures, The Radium Girls, The Woman who Smashed Codes, and The Woman's Hour, all of which were similarly fascinating and fantastic reads.
Thank you to LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unsentimentally engaging and well researched, this book is for readers of Hidden Figures and anyone who wants to learn more about the 1930s and recovered women's histories. One of my favorite lines is the one O'Brien puts on the frontispiece, from Louise Thaden: "If you will tell me why, or how, people fall in love, I will tell you why, or how, I happened to take up aviation."