Extraordinary, and yet...
This biography of Charles Lindbergh is the most thorough, well-written, and thoughtful book I've ever read. Beyond biography, it's an examination of one person's values within the values of his times. The author has done a splendid task of examining the huge amount of writing done by Lindbergh as well as those around him, particularly his wife, in an effort to explain someone who often appears to be inexplicable. Listening to this book was a profoundly moving experience for me, drawing me into the innermost details of an extraordinary life. The book also points out the overlooked importance of Lindbergh's wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, to him and to the world at large. She deserved to be famous in her own right, and her fall into Lindbergh's spell points out how different and captivating he was, as well as the difficulties faced by women in her time. Despite my belief that this book entirely deserves its fame and Pulitzer prize, I'm not totally happy with it. As I went further and further into the book, I began to see that Berg was resistant to criticizing Lindbergh for his actions and beliefs. I think that Berg could have been more forthright in portraying Lindbergh as a man whose extraordinary gifts and accomplishments made his misjudgments and failures stand out even more. Berg's work only barely saves itself from hagiography. As a listening experience, I was disappointed in this recording. Lloyd James has a calm, soothing speaking voice, but his performance was idiosyncratic. Either the book has frequent, inexplicable pauses in it where no pause should be, or James is unable to read the sentences as written. His performance was off-putting, and if I had less interest in the story, I would have stopped listening. Despite my difficulty with the speaking itself, I would recommend this recording to anyone. Any man's life that was examined with such care and detail would be a fascinating story. Lindbergh's life was far beyond any man's, which makes his story important to know.