Lindbergh (book)
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| Author | A. Scott Berg |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Biography |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Putnam Publishing Group |
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Publication date
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September 21, 1998 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 640 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Goldwyn: A Biography |
| Followed by | Kate Remembered |
Lindbergh is a 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Charles Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg. The book became a New York Times Best Seller and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography.
"I felt it was one of the great untold stories of the 20th century..." - A. Scott Berg
Once he had completed his second book, Goldwyn: A Biography (about film producer Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.) in 1989, Berg began the search for his next subject. He wanted it to be "another great American cultural figure but—because I had written about Perkins and Goldwyn—not somebody from the worlds of publishing or film". After briefly considering Tennessee Williams, Berg chose the aviator Charles Lindbergh, attracted by what he described as "the dramatic possibilities of the story of the great hero who became a great victim and a great villain". "Charles Lindbergh is a window onto the whole world -- a great lens for observing the American century," Berg elaborated.
When asked about previous biographies of Lindbergh, Berg noted "The problem is most of what has been written about him is wrong or misleading."
Berg had been interested earlier by the idea of writing a book on the life of Lindbergh but "had scratched Lindbergh off my list" when he heard that Lindbergh's papers were locked up and inaccessible. A few years later he was approached by Phyllis Grann, who ran Putnam at the time, about a biography of Lindbergh. Berg told her "I'd love to write it, but it can't be done. The papers are locked up. Mrs. Lindbergh is locked up. The children are locked up." Grann suggested he pursue the subject anyway, although she told him "You will never get to Mrs. Lindbergh." Berg took this as a challenge and spent the next nine months trying to get in touch with her. Berg's friend Katharine Hepburn offered to write Mrs. Lindbergh a letter, even though the two women did not know each other. Not long after, Berg heard from Mrs. Lindbergh.
Berg convinced Lindbergh's widow, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who considered him "trustworthy," to grant him unprecedented access to the man's archives, which he was surprised to find totaled "1,300 boxes, or several million papers". In addition to his research in the archives, Berg also spoke with Mrs. Lindbergh, their five children and Lindbergh family friends. "You can't write about Charles without writing about me," the widow told Berg, allowing him access to her memoirs and diaries.
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