海角大神

In 1928, Amelia Earhart became an international celebrity for being the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane. But Earhart was strictly a passenger during that flight, which was operated by a male pilot and co-pilot. 鈥淚鈥檓 just baggage,鈥� she said.

Still, the press dubbed her Queen of the Air, and Earhart, who had begun taking flying lessons seven years earlier, was determined to sharpen her piloting skills in order to merit her reputation. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, and she set several other records before she disappeared in 1937 while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.

Earhart has remained an object of fascination for nearly a century, and the broad outlines of her biography are familiar. Laurie Gwen Shapiro鈥檚 vivid, sprawling new book, 鈥淭he Aviator and the Showman鈥� focuses on a less well-known aspect of Earhart鈥檚 life: her marriage to the ambitious publisher and promoter George Palmer Putnam. Putnam had selected her for the 1928 flight and subsequently served as her manager and agent.

Putnam was a scion of the storied G.P. Putnam鈥檚 Sons publishing company. Shapiro calls him 鈥渁n idea addict.鈥� Among his successes, he secured the rights to aviator Charles Lindbergh鈥檚 1927 memoir, 鈥淲e,鈥� and he conceived of the popular Boys鈥� Books by Boys series. The first entry, 鈥淒avid Goes Voyaging,鈥� published in 1925, featured Putnam鈥檚 own son David, who at age 11 joined an expedition to the Gal谩pagos Islands. Ghostwriters then turned his adventure into a bestseller.

Putnam鈥檚 ease in using his son to advance his own career presaged his relationship with Earhart. When he met the young aviator, Putnam was unhappily married to the wealthy Dorothy Binney, whose father invented the Crayola crayon. Binney was aware of her husband鈥檚 intense interest in Earhart, and she was involved in extramarital affairs of her own. After the couple divorced, the free-spirited Earhart reluctantly agreed to marry Putnam. (鈥淚 must exact a cruel promise and that is you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together,鈥� she wrote him on the eve of their 1931 wedding.) From then on, as one friend of the couple said, 鈥淪he was his meal ticket.鈥�

Shapiro鈥檚 depiction of Putnam is roundly unflattering. The author portrays him as obnoxious, vindictive, and obsessed with money and fame. Another accomplished female aviator of the era, Elinor Smith, claimed that Putnam attempted to reject other women pilots to ensure that the spotlight remained squarely on his famous wife. 鈥淲hile Amelia captured the public鈥檚 imagination with her daring flights,鈥� the author writes, 鈥淕eorge skillfully capitalized on these achievements for financial gain.鈥�

Putnam arranged lecture tours for Earhart and published ghostwritten books and articles in her name. (Some of these, including the posthumous volume 鈥淟ast Flight,鈥� were written by 海角大神 Science Monitor reporter Janet Mabie.) In 1934, he developed Amelia Earhart Fashions, a clothing line for female pilots and other sporting women; Shapiro suggests that he stole that idea from Lindbergh鈥檚 wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who had described a similar concept to Putnam and Earhart a year earlier.

Earhart comes off as a more complicated figure in the narrative. Her bravery is unquestionable, but some of her actions were reckless. Putnam encouraged her to embark on her final journey, which they saw as key to guaranteeing their financial security. But Shapiro observes that Earhart was 鈥渢ragically unprepared鈥� for the trip鈥檚 most challenging leg, during which she was to land her plane on the small Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Neither she nor her navigator, Fred Noonan, were skilled in Morse code, and they lacked important radio equipment.

Shapiro鈥檚 recounting of this story is compelling but overly detailed. The very long book features distracting asides and unnecessary information, from the specifics of various publicity events Earhart attended to the names of the horses she and Putnam rode during a vacation on a Wyoming ranch.

The question that haunts 鈥淭he Aviator and the Showman鈥� is why the fiercely independent Earhart went along with her husband鈥檚 schemes. Shapiro concludes that Earhart and Putnam鈥檚 relationship 鈥渨as a complex mix of love, tension, and mutual ambition,鈥� but the true nature of their marriage remains elusive, as does Earhart herself. As one of her friends wrote in a letter, chastising her for embarking on overly risky flights, 鈥淲hen it comes down to brass tacks, I don鈥檛 know you at all 鈥� I doubt anyone does.鈥�