Under a Wing: A Memoir

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Summary: Life with,and without father!
Review: Caught the author Reeve Lindberg on the Oprah show recently when Peter Jennings was her guest.During the brief time she spoke impressed me greatly that I went out and brought the book.It is an intimate detailed biography of growing up with a famous dad who wasnt there most of the time.She only talks little of the kidnapping as she was not born at the time.I liked that for all there fame John and Anne(who is still alive)were determined to give their kids a normal childhood.One of my ten best biographies for the decade.

Rating:
Summary: Read More by Reeve Lindbergh
Review: I have nothing to add about this fascinating, well-written book. But I do want to urge people who have read Under A Wing, and other books about the Lindberghs, or by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, to also read Reeve's novel, The Names of Mountains. It provides another side of the story of this family. A fictionalized account of growing up Lindbergh, it provides insight into Reeve's experiences and her relationship with her mother, and the sorrows and joys they shared.

Rating:
Summary: Read More by Reeve Lindbergh
Review: I have read Mr. Bergh's book, and the fairly recent Biography of Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I also have come across references to Mr. Lindbergh in many histories of WW II. Finally, I have read about the trial that followed the death of their first child.

The book's cover is telling and comments made by Ms. Lindbergh about her Family seem to fall into 2 categories, her Father, and everyone else. Mrs. Lindbergh clearly was the parent to whom credit for the children of this Family must be given.

What does it say when a family feels "relief" whenever the Father leaves. Ms. Lindbergh expresses the same feeling at his death. Her sense of relief did not read as though she was happy his sickness was over, rather relief he, or part of who he was had gone.

Her awareness of her Father's anti-Semitic speeches, and his role as spokesperson for America First, slammed into this woman in College. It was not a minor discovery for her. Her Father may have been the first man to make a given flight, and for that there is nothing to detract from. His conduct after the celebrity set in was anything but well handled. As a Father one other reader described him as a tyrant, I believe his kids were terrified of him, and one Son's story she touches upon sheds light on the issue.

The book was a little light in presentation, just like A. Scott Bergh's book was. But even that book described a man who built a wire enclosure outside and instructed his first child be placed in it, mid-winter to "fend for himself".

Ms. Lindbergh shares much although not necessarily in the sharpest of focus. What I would love to read are the writings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh if and when they ever are released. Some have been, some have not.

This was not Jimmy Stewart playing Lindbergh, this was the real man, and he was seriously lacking.

Mrs. Anne Morrow Lindbergh played herself, and from all I have read, that person was someone very special.

Rating:
Summary: A very poignant view of a complex and unique family
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Reeve Lindbergh has written about her parents, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, with empathy and love. I was very moved to read about the present problems with her mother, and about the shared experience she had with her mother when her own child died at the same age of her famous brother. I was also very moved to read about Charles Lindbergh as a loving father, and sad that he was also a bit of a tyrant with his wife and children. I remember reading another book about the Lindberghs where someone said of Charles Lindbergh; "You can't be a hero to the rest of the world and a mouse at home," and I think that was a large part of what drove Reeve's father to be somewhat difficult as a parent. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Lindberghs.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written autobiographical essays
Review: Previous reviews are accurate about the quality of this book and the content, but neglect to mention that it is an extraordinary work of literature. Ms. Lindbergh has composed a series of memory-reflections (she consciously eschews hyphenations like that but I don't know how else to say it), connecting each to the next like a string of pearls. The prose is beautiful, the depth of detail always just right, the psychological observations and self-reflections are compelling, and though her book is more thematically focused, I would rank it with Arthur Miller's "Timebends" among brilliant autobiographical essays. A little-known gem of a book. And look at that cover photo!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written autobiographical essays
Review: Previous reviews are accurate about the quality of this book and the content, but neglect to mention that it is an extraordinary work of literature. Ms. Lindbergh has composed a series of memory-reflections (she consciously eschews hyphenations like that but I don't know how else to say it), connecting each to the next like a string of pearls. The prose is beautiful, the depth of detail always just right, the psychological observations and self-reflections are compelling, and though her book is more thematically focused, I would rank it with Arthur Miller's "Timebends" among brilliant autobiographical essays. A little-known gem of a book. And look at that cover photo!

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely charming book!
Review: Reeve Lindbergh's memoirs are a must read for anyone who has read the diaries and letters of her mother and father, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Reeve's disclosures on what it was like growing up as a Lindbergh tie all the rest of the books about the family together. The passages concerning the kidnapping of Reeve's brother are haunting, and for the first time, you see this child as someone's brother, not a subject of a newspaper account. The similarity between Reeve Lindbergh's writing style and that of her mother's is striking and quite poignant.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Reeve
Review: Somehow you just imagine that children of the famous are well taken care of and have a choice of things to do with their lives. Being a student of the Lindbergh writings and accomplishments for more years than I care to admit; I gave little thought to the children of Charles and Anne. If you read the writings of Charles Lindbergh you get a sense of a life well ordered and possibly ridgid, of a disaplined mind and a man who requires disapline around him. It never gave me cause to think about what kind of father he would be, but I had my suspicions. It was refreshing to read about the good times as well as the bad with her Father. It eases the mind to know that he wasn't a "Daddy-dearest", however he had his quirks. Reeve paints a story about a life before and after losing her father that is rewarding and taxing, just like our own. About loss and gain, but mostly loss. However after losing people close to you, it's hard to not focus on the loss. I finished this book and was emotionally drained, Reeve takes the reader on a roller-coaster emotional ride.. much like her Mother's writings. When all is said and done I had answers to questions I had wondered and learned new things I had not known before. What more could you ask of a book?

Rating:
Summary: Opens the door to a mysterious family
Review: There can be no doubt that Reeve Lindbergh's memoir is the most touching book about that family that I have read. Through her eyes we go beyond the covers of other books and see what it really meant to be a Lindbergh.

They were almost a closed society onto themselves, yet they still experienced the same joys and sorrows as the rest of us. We find the man who was depised as an isolationist to be a concerned and loving father who read to his children.

We dine with the children at their grandmother's house and we soar above the Connecticut house on Saturdays. The famed aviator at the controls and a bored child in the rear seat.

After reading this book I felt very attached to this famous family. Being the same age as Reeve herself, my only knowledge of the Lindbergh's was the famous flight and the kidnapping as I read in history books. Now, after this book, I feel as though I have become part of them.

It can only be summed up in one word, wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Raves for Reeve
Review: This beautifully written book tells what it's like to grow up as one of the Lindbergh children. What otherwise was a most private family, Reeve opens the door to their New England home and lets us see the personal side of Charles and Anne. She writes honestly, though at times it must hurt, and does address the subject of the kidnapping head on. If you've ever had an interest in any facet of the Lindberghs' life, do not miss this important book.