If we think that the personal-attack politics we see today are anything new, perhaps we don't know our history as well as we should or might. Politics is politics. It always has been. American icons such as Franklin Roosevelt "FDR" and Charles Lindbergh seem unlikely foes. Both are staunch Americans. It is unnecessary to remind ourselves of the importance of both men. But, during the years leading up to America's entry into the WWII, the division between isolationists and interventionists was played-out in dirty tactics, partisan politics, character assassination and libelous journalism.Roosevelt was strongly in favor of bringing the US into the growing Nazi European war. Lindbergh, strongly against involving the US in -- yet again (i.e., WWI) Europe's internal conflict. Majority US opinion held against involvement too. This is the setting for the bitter feud Roosevelt and his backers would wage against Lindbergh. Lindbergh using his celebrity position and influence to try and thwart FDR's plans to join the fight against Germany and Italy, made enemies and subjected himself to being labeled a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. It's a part of the past, that seems rooted in our present. ( )

Charles Lindbergh won fame at home and abroad by being the first person to fly across the Atlantic ocean. Not only was he a pilot but he was an aviation pioneer that helped develop the aviation industry and became an enemy of FDR during the air mail crisis of 1934. FDR had the last laugh succeeding in labeling Lindbergh a Nazi sympathizer since Lindbergh was for the United States staying out of WWII until after Pearl Harbor. Black listed and unable to join the military effort Lindbergh lent his services to Ford manufacturing and before the war ended spend some time flying fighter planes in the Pacific shooting down one Japanese plane and flying something close to 50 combat missions as a civilian. He came up with a way to economize fuel to allow fighter planes to fly for 2 to 4 hours longer on missions. After the war and FDR died Eisenhower awarded him the rank of brigadier general in the Air Force and as a civilian was very active in conservation activities. He was one of the most influential people of the 20th century. And yet, to this day the smear campaign mounted against him prior to WWII casts a shadow over his legacy. Unjustly, as the author of this book argues.

The books has excellent points when it comes with dealing with the history and relationship of Lindbergh and FDR. However, he opens with negative comparisons to Obama and closes with similar observations. This is a horrible mistake, first because history has yet to see how things will turn out with Obama and this book will quickly seem dated because of the way he compares Lindbergh and Sarah Palin. He should have left out any of that type of comparison and let this historical comparison stand on its own merits. The only other thing I would like to have heard more about even briefly is about Lindbergh's contributions after WWII. Telling me he received a commission in the Air Force as a brigadier general and spent a lot of time and effort in the conservation movement is nice but a paragraph on what he did as a general and what he did to further the conservation movement would have been helpful in cementing an understanding of the legacy of Charles Lindbergh. I really want to give this book three stars because I did enjoy reading it and burned through it in a day. But I just can't do it. Let's call it 2 and a half stars....

I do recommend this book to those wanted to read about a successful smear campaign in American politics, someone interested in Charles Lindbergh and his place in aviation history, or someone interested in the darker side of FDR. I just wish the author could have a do over chance to address some of the shortcomings of this book. ( )