Autobiography of Values

by Charles A. Lindbergh

From his days as a barnstorming pilot to his transatlantic flight to his role in mapping international mail routes, Lindbergh never stopped challenging himself. This is an unprecedented view of an extraordinary man. New Introduction by Reeve Lindbergh; Index; photographs and maps.

Genres: Biography, Aviation, History, Autobiography

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Son of Charles A. Lindbergh Sr..
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (nicknamed "Slim," "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle") was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.

Lindbergh, then a 25-year old U.S. Air Mail pilot, emerged from virtual obscurity to almost instantaneous world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize-winning solo non-stop on May 20–21, 1927, from Roosevelt Field located in Garden City on New York's Long Island to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles, in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh, a U.S. Army reserve officer, was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his historic exploit.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Lindbergh relentlessly used his fame to help promote the rapid development of U.S. commercial aviation. In March 1932, however, his infant son, Charles, Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what was soon dubbed the "Crime of the Century" which eventually led to the Lindbergh family fleeing the United States in December 1935 to live in Europe where they remained up until the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Before the United States declared World War II on December 8, 1941, Lindbergh had been an outspoken advocate of keeping the U.S. out of the world conflict, as was his Congressman father, Charles August Lindbergh (R-MN), during World War I, and became a leader of the anti-war America First movement. Nonetheless, he supported the war effort after Pearl Harbor and flew many combat missions in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a civilian consultant, even though President Franklin D. Roosevelt had refused to reinstate his Army Air Corps colonel's commission that he had resigned earlier in 1939.

In his later years, Lindbergh became a prolific prize-winning author, international explorer, inventor, and active environmentalist.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally read non fiction, but this book was an interesting as a fiction novel. Lindbergh's life was so much more than the Spirit of St Louis flight. Eye opening and thought provoking, I've read it through several times

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are familiar with the Lindbergh story, this book can be a little repetitive. But the wonderful part is delving into Lindbergh's mind and thought processes. Fascinating to see the way he fixates on an idea and hashes it out only to rethink it and do it again.

[Russ Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completes the autobiography started in The Spirit of St. Louis. This, along with Scott Berg’s Lindbergh, is required reading for Lindbergh scholars.

[Barbara Maxwell-Dubrinsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was terribly disappointed in this book. When I read "autobiography" I thought that meant the story of Lindbergh's life. Instead Lindbergh rambled on and on about his philosophies of life and death. The only saving grace of this book were the few stories of meeting his wife and growing up in Minnesota. Lindbergh's disjointed thoughts are thrown together with no connection. He is one minute in Africa and the next at Cape Canaveral with no reason to be at either place. I was expecting his story of the death of his son but he only mentions it in one sentence. This book slants his life as one of world travel and adventure while dabbling in scientific experiments. It tries to paint his picture as a man who is loyal to America by visiting German plane manufacturing plants and reporting back to our government. In reality he abandoned his wife and children, murdered his own son while letting an innocent man go to the electric chair, was an admitted anti-Semite who thought Hitler was right, and started three other families in Europe. After reading this book I am convinced Lindbergh was a nut job.

[Caryatid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable given his life story. Such a hypocrite with seven children by disabled mistresses that violate his sense of eugenics. Just a collection of pontifications by an uneducated gullible man and that's not to mention his anti-jewry, pro German attitudes. And it could have been someone so much more worthy that at 27 flew the Atlantic...upon which Lindbergh built his so, so sad reputation and ego.

[S.A. Hartman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the read

[Michele jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was probably less enticing in a vacuum than I found it as a counterpart to Lindbergh's journal, We and Spirit of St. Louis. A completist cannot do without this work, while it probably offers little to the casual reader. It's a sketch and feels more like an outline for a book rather than a full work.

I first read this Autobiography about 25 years ago. It was interesting to go back and revisit some of Lindbergh's observations in light of the revelation about his secret family. In the book -- which is really a series of essays, internal discussions about air, space, science, human nature -- he discussed the urge to procreate and theorized that if stranded on an island, one would assimilate and become part of that culture, mate with the natives, mold a new life, with new mores and values. That passage and others take on a different meaning now that we know that he had a separate life.

[Don Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 100 pages gave me the impression that he, Mr Lindbergh was the most narcissistic who ever wrote about themselves. Fortunately, I pressed on.
Much to my delight, the detailed remainder of the book lead me down the correct path. He was much more than an American Icon of heroism, he surpassed his 'The Spirit of St. Louis' achievement in a cacophony of achievements far beyond aviation.
By the end I decided he was a combination of Thoreau, Newton, William Edward Parry,Schweitzer and Truman.
what a wonderful life that has touched us all throughout the world.
I highly recommend this work to all who seek for an example of a tenacious visionary.
I am please to have read about his life from his own hand.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice read, I didn't know that he was friends with Alexis Carrel (the Nobel prize winner/ Nazi Frenchman)

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lindburgh was a great man, I didn't enjoy his autobiography so much which seemed to smack of eugenics.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive of some of his other work. Seems a little new age at times.