| Edition |
Large print edition. |
| Description |
589 pages (large print), 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm. |
| Physical Medium |
large print. rda |
| Series |
Thorndike Press large print popular and narrative nonfiction |
|
Thorndike Press large print popular and narrative nonfiction.
|
| Note |
Large print edition does not include index. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 487-586). |
| Summary |
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. Keith O'Brien 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. |
| Contents |
The miracle of Wichita -- Devotedly, Ruth -- Real and natural, every inch -- The fortune of the air -- The fairest of the brave and the bravest of the fair -- Flying salesgirls -- The right sort of girl -- City of destiny -- If this is to be a derby -- There is only one Cleveland -- Good eggs -- Mr. Putnam and me -- Law of fate -- Give a girl credit -- Grudge flight -- Spetakkel -- All things being equal -- That's what I think of wives flying -- They'll be in our hair -- Playing hunches -- A woman couldn't win -- The top of the hill. |
| Subject |
Elder, Ruth, 1902-1977.
|
|
Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937.
|
|
Klingensmith, Florence Gunderson, 1904-1933.
|
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Nichols, Ruth, 1901-1960.
|
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Thaden, Louise McPhetridge, 1905-1979.
|
|
Bendix Trophy Race (1936)
|
|
Airplane racing -- United States.
|
|
Women air pilots -- United States -- Biography.
|
|
Air shows -- United States -- History.
|
|
HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.
|
| Genre/Form |
Large type books.
|
|
Biographies.
|
|
Large type books.
|
|
Biographies.
|
|
Biography.
|
|
History.
|
| ISBN |
9781432855840 (hardcover : large print) |
|
1432855840 (hardcover : large print) |
|
