Letters from Amelia Earhart HC Jean L Backus Beacon Press 1st print 1982

Description

Letters from Amelia: An Intimate Portrait of Amelia Earhart Hardcover
by Amelia Earhart (Author), Jean L. Backus (Author)

‘Letters from Amelia’ began quietly with the discovery of four neglected cardboard cartons in an attic in Berkeley, California. Inside were rare photographs and more than 100 revealing letters from the legendary pilot to her beloved mother. The first was a four-year-old’s thank-you note. The last, three short lines, was written just prior to her final 1937 flight, when she vanished into a Pacific mist of conjecture. Fitted together they portray the remarkable evolution from child to adult of a warm, sensible, fun-loving tomboy whose rare determination and bravery led her to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo.

Although the letters shed no new light on the mystery of her last mission, they magnificently uncover the sou of a very private person who became one of the most acclaimed public figures of her day. She was a feminist who met with kings and princes but for all her blazing accomplishments still was down-to-earth enough to write to her mother

Hardcover: 253 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press; 1st edition

I am humbled to realize how very little I knew about with most incredible woman. I would hazard a bet that all most of us know is that she disappeared over the Pacific on her round the world flight. I was appalled at my ignorance. I didn’t realize she had made the trip from east to west and was on the last and most dangerous leg of her journey when she and her navigator were lost. I didn’t realize how many records she broke/made. I didn’t realize how intelligent she was, how driven and focused, how gracious, and, even though constantly in the spotlight, how private.

Amelia Earhart is definitely worthy of being a banner to all women about what women can do. She could get down and greasy with the boys working on airplane engines and she could wear evening gowns with elegance and poise. She refused to be defined or limited by her sex. She was the original feminist.

The “background” story of this incredibly beautiful and adventurous explorer is worth the time and effort to read. There was so much I didn’t know. I’ve always been obsessed with anything Amelia-related, so this book was an enjoyable insight that reaches beyond the hero worship and romance and gives the reader a peek into her daily life detailed in letters to her mother. It also provides a glimpse into a fearless feminist with a complex personality, who is both practical and humorous.

From boxes of forgotten letters to her mother and photos in a dusty attic, suspense writer Jean L. Backus unravels the mystery of aviatrix Amelia Earheart’s private moments. In “Letters from Amelia” she places these fascinating personal notes amid her skilled biographical account of AE’s life and times to show a whole new side of the brilliant, humorous, and practical woman whose high-flying courage paved the way for future generations of liberated women.

Wear to dust jacket. Wear to book cover. 1st printing. 0-8070-6702-4,

0-312-14555-1

Writing on 1st page. Page rounding to the first few pages. 1st printing.