In the seventy years since the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan during a flight over the Central Pacific; their fate has remained one of history's most debated mysteries despite dozens of books offering solutions. This book is different. It draws on thousands of never before published primary source documents to present a narrative that corrects decades of misconception. Ric Gillespie offers a very realistic picture of Earhart; her attempted world flight; the events surrounding her disappearance; and the U.S. government’s failed attempt to find her. Scrupulously accurate yet thrilling to read; the book is based on information uncovered by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR). Gillespie; TIGHAR's executive director and a former aviation accident investigator; notes that he does not argue for a particular theory but supports the hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan died as castaways on a remote Pacific atoll.
#99948 in Books 2012-05-01 2012-05-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.97 x 1.23 x 5.00l; 1.23 #File Name: 1590174518576 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not the Revolutionary you would expectBy Fred HendersonA record of an extraordinary life. Not the type of revolutionary you would think; but rather of one unique in the 20th century17 of 18 people found the following review helpful. A Must Read for Anyone Interested in the Early Soviet Union and European Lefist MovementsBy Mary WilburThis is a great memoir by a man who was both a participant and an observer; and who also possessed a prodigious intellect and will. He was Russian by parentage and later by citizenship and French by "adoption and literary expression." Altogether he was fluent in five languages. The impression of Victor Serge that I developed while reading this book is that he was a man devoted to the truth as he understood it; yet he was tolerant of the opinions of those with whom he disagreed. He also possessed an acutely analytical mind; and an extraordinary memory. One need not be a leftist to appreciate this book and the man who wrote it. My politics are the opposite of Serge's; but I have developed a deep sympathy for Victor Serge and a much improved understanding of the ground from which European leftism developed.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The Courage to DissentBy Manray9With "Memoirs of a Revolutionary;" Victor Serge pointedly adapted the title of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin's 1899 memoirs. In doing so; he tied himself to the colorful history of European radical activism and the Russian revolutionaries -- and carried that heritage well into the twentieth century. Victor Lvovich Kibalchich; writing under the nom de plume Victor Serge; was the Belgian-born son of expatriated Russian radicals. He labored most of his life as a militant in exile; a tireless worker for humanitarian socialism; a perspicacious historian and accomplished novelist.Serge and his family endured imprisonment; internal exile; poverty; censorship; intimidation and persecution. He was jailed under miserable conditions by conservative Western governments and the USSR alike; but he never cowered; never recanted and remained a man of courage and passionate convictions. He was one of few activists with anarchist ties to achieve a conspicuous place among Russia's Bolsheviks and bear witness to the Civil War; the suppression of the Worker's Opposition movement; and the elimination of intra-party opposition by Stalin. Only his ties to prominent French intellectuals and the international popularity of his writings saved him from a fateful trip to the cellars of the Lubyanka."Memoirs of a Revolutionary" is eloquent. It provides an insider's look at Bolshevik Russia; the infancy of the USSR; and the descent of the radicals' dream into tyranny and oppression. Richard Greeman's excellent glossary provides explanatory notes on the multitude of early twentieth century French; Spanish; Italian and Russian radicals who played roles in Serge's long revolutionary journey. How appropriate to finish the book on May Day. It is worthy of Four Stars.Of note: Serge's son; Vlady; often appears in the memoirs. He accompanied Serge on his travels throughout the thirties and forties and joined him in exile in Mexico. Vlady went on to a long life as one of Mexico's most prominent artists. He died in 2005.
