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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
May 2014, 400 pages
Paperback:
May 2015, 416 pages
Book Reviewed by:
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The sensational true story of Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest flying ace.
At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies - the car and airplane - took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these dangerous contraptions and pushed them to unexplored extremes became new American heroes: the race car driver and the flying ace.
No individual did more to create and intensify these raw new roles than the tall, gangly Eddie Rickenbacker, who defied death over and over with such courage and pluck that a generation of Americans came to know his face better than the president's. The son of poor, German-speaking Swiss immigrants in Columbus, Ohio, Rickenbacker overcame the specter of his father's violent death, a debilitating handicap, and, later, accusations of being a German spy, to become the American military ace of aces in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. He and his high-spirited, all-too-short-lived pilot comrades, created a new kind of aviation warfare, as they pushed their machines to the edge of destruction - and often over it - without parachutes, radios, or radar.
Enduring Courage is the electrifying story of the beginning of America's love affair with speed - and how one man above all the rest showed a nation the way forward. No simple daredevil, he was an innovator on the racetrack, a skilled aerial dualist and squadron commander, and founder of Eastern Air Lines. Decades after his heroics against the Red Baron's Flying Circus, he again showed a war-weary nation what it took to survive against nearly insurmountable odds when he and seven others endured a harrowing three-week ordeal adrift without food or water in the Pacific during World War II.
For the first time, Enduring Courage peels back the layers of hero to reveal the man himself. With impeccable research and a gripping narrative, John F. Ross tells the unforgettable story of a man who pushed the limits of speed, endurance and courage and emerged as an American legend.
1.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
We forget the cost and sacrifice for so many things we rely on in our daily lives today and take for granted. Reading this historical account definitely makes one aware of that dangerous journey and those courageous men whose vision and guts brought us to this point...Author John Ross offers a thoroughly researched (from primary sources), engaging, well written biography about this memorable 20th century WWI ace pilot and aviation pioneer...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Christina Olds, bestselling author of Fighter Pilot
Ross's meticulous research skillfully guides this real-life tale to a magnificent, completely satisfying landing. Douglas Brinkley, bestselling author, Professor of History at Rice University, and historian for CBS News
John Ross is that rare soul who writes narrative history with the verve and timing of an accomplished novelist. Enduring Courage - a heroic portrait of the aviator ace Eddie Rickenbacker of Ohio - is a bona fide page turner. Dr. Richard P. Hallion, former U.S. Air Force Historian and author
...John F. Ross gives readers a brilliant and compelling biography of a man who led a remarkable life, illuminating as well a more innocent and hopeful period in American history, when the common man could make for himself a very uncommon future. This is an unforgettable treasure of a book Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Bunker Hill
Whether it's the Indianapolis 500, a World War I dogfight, or a struggle for survival on a life raft in the Pacific, John Ross puts you there in the midst of the turbulent, often unbelievable life of Eddie Rickenbacker - the irascible, death-defying hero who helped set the dizzying pace of our modern, machine-driven age Robert Kurson, New York Times bestselling author of Shadow Divers
Daring, beautiful, and masterfully told, Enduring Courage puts you shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the great American spirits of all-time, Eddie Rickenbacker, who does in each chapter what the rest of us dream to do with our lives. Thomas Fleming, New York Times bestselling author of Conquerors of the Sky
To say Enduring Courage is inspiring is totally inadequate praise. It is also gripping, electrifying, insightful - and full of new information about a legendary American hero.Ace pilot and race car driver, automotive designer and aviation pioneer, Eddie Rickenbacker was America's most successful aerial fighter in World War I. In addition to the official recognition and many awards he received for those achievements, he also wrote a comic strip, and enjoyed accolades from popular culture:
Ace Drummond was an aviation comic strip, written by Eddie Rickenbacker and illustrated by Clayton Knight, an aviation author and illustrator - click the image to see a larger version. (Clayton's daughter, Hilary Knight, illustrated Kay Thompson's Eloise children's book series among other books.) The comic strip centered on Ace Drummond and told of his adventures around the world as he used his barn pilot skills to defeat ...
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