Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof

Issue: October 1, 2009
 
Amelia Earhart: The Thrill of It.
Wels, Susan (Author)
Oct 2009. 230 p. Running Press, hardcover,  $35.00. (9780762437634). 629.13. 

Aviator Amelia Earhart has been an icon and an enigma since she became the first woman (and only the second person) to fly solo across the Atlantic, in 1932. She kept setting records, making headlines, and dazzling the world with her smile and svelte good looks until her disappearance over the Pacific in 1937. Theories abound regarding her fate, and that of her navigator, Fred Noonan. A compact mirror and makeup were found on Nikumaroro Island in 2007. Another expedition is planned, and now that a female relative of Earhart’s has agreed to provide a DNA sample, diehards are hoping that conclusive evidence will finally be found. Either way, Wels, author of a best-selling book about the Titanic, presents an irresistible biography-in-pictures rich in photographs of Earhart and a slew of intriguing documents. Wels’ brisk narrative hits all the main points and captures the spirit of Earhart, making it an excellent companion to Mary S. Lovell’s in-depth life, The Sound of Wings (2009), and the Hilary Swank film Amelia, as Earhart is in the air once again.
— Donna Seaman