Title: The Steep Ascent
Author: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Date: 1944
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company (hardcover), Dell (paperback)
ISBN: none
Length: 122 pages
Quote: “There are in the world today not only men fighting in planes but women behind them...My story is for them.”
Although Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh’s adventures in aviation made them heroes to the world, their political opposition to the Roosevelts, as well as Mrs. Lindbergh’s gender, grounded the couple during the war. At this time Mrs. Lindbergh wrote a novel loosely based on some of the flights she remembered, feeling that the women worrying about their Air Force men could relate to a fictional heroine who worries while sitting with her husband in their plane.
Personally, I liked her memoirs better. The Steep Ascent is a description of a flight made when aviation was still a dangerous adventure; it didn’t need to be cluttered with natter about the personal lives of fictional characters. Presumably the Lindberghs’ hordes of fans felt the way I do, because Gift from the Sea is still popular and The Steep Ascent has become hard to find.
Anyway, this book is recommended to fans of Mrs. Lindbergh who want to complete their collection, or who just want to read a vivid adventure story written by someone who’d had similar adventures.
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