In 1928, a young social worker and hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam, heir to the Putnam & Sons throne and hitmaker, on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. A partnership—professional and soon otherwise—was born. The Aviator and the Showman unveils the story of Amelia's decade-long marriage to George Putnam, offering an exploration of their relationship and the role it played in her enduring legacy.
The Aviator And The Showman is, alas, not well-written. And a more attentive editor might have pruned digressions about, for example, Newfoundlanders’ favorite foods, the carved wooden chest George gave Amelia and the couple’s attendance at movie premieres. Most important, Shapiro relies heavily on interviews with acquaintances, friends and family members—often conducted decades after Amelia disappeared—whose claims are difficult or impossible to confirm.
Drawing on archived records, diaries, and interviews with the couple and those who knew them, Shapiro crafts a narrative that is often surprisingly intimate about their thoughts and feelings ... While certainly presenting a new perspective on Earhart, Putnam emerges as a stronger character and someone deserving of his own dedicated biography.
