Daughter of the Air: Cornelia Fort - Hardcover

Simbeck, Rob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871136880 ISBN 13: 9780871136886

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999

Synopsis

Dramatically recreates the life of one of America's pioneering aviators, Cornelia Fort, one of the few eyewitnesses to the bombing of Pearl Harbor from the air, interweaving Fort's own letters and diaries, historical documents, and interviews with friends and colleagues.

About this title

Review

"This slim volume documents the U.S. Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, a group of pilots who delivered aircraft wherever they were needed in North America during World War II. Simbeck tells the story through Cornelia Fort, the Sarah Lawrence-educated Southern belle who was the second woman to enlist and the first to be killed in the line of duty. The text is thoroughly grounded in Fort's own words and in the recollections of her family and friends. . . . [T]his is an informally written, well-documented portrait of a fascinating, little-known figure."

--Barbara Ann Hutcheson, Library Journal

"Simbeck effectively captures the seriousness and dedication with which Fort and her colleagues approached flying, and the camaraderie that developed between them."

--Publishers Weekly

"[T]ouching and entertaining."

--The Daily Oklahoman

"It's a rare person whose life is worth a biography after having lasted just twenty-four years. But as the first woman pilot to die in the service of her country in World War II, Cornelia Fort certainly qualifies.... Rob Simbeck's interviews with women who flew with her and knew her well, along with his use of her ample letters and assiduously kept diary, present a chapter in the nation's history that has waited more than half a century to be told."

--Julie Dear, The Washington Post

"An unusual story of a gallant young spirit who loved her country and died in its service."

--Kirkus Reviews

"Far more than just a tale of a fascinating and rebellious woman. Daughter of the Air provides an accounting of issues that would give rise to the modern women's liberation movement as well as of the conflicts faced by the U.S. military over the presence of women in the ranks."

--Willy Stern, Business Week

About the Author

Rob Simbeck is a Nashville, Tennessee-based writer whose papers have appeared in numerous periodicals and newspapers, including Rolling Stone, Nashville Scene, Field and Stream, Guideposts, Kansas Quarterly, and The Washington Post. He is also the author of 50 Seasons: A History of the Nashville Symphony and Tennessee State Symbols.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0871136880
• ISBN 13: 9780871136886
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208