First published 1999
Eddie Rickenbacker floats on a life raft in the Pacific, twenty-one days into what should have been his death sentence. The year is 1942, and America's greatest flying ace from the first world war has crash-landed into his most desperate fight yet. But this is just one moment in a life that refuses ordinary limits. From the early days tearing up racetracks as a pioneer driver to commanding the skies over France, from building airlines to shaping the aircraft industry itself, Eddie attacks each challenge with the same reckless brilliance that made him a household name. The story unfolds through a chorus of voices: auto magnate Alfred Sloan, novelist John Dos Passos, aviation pioneer Billy Mitchell, and the women who knew Eddie best, his wife and mother. Most surprising of all is God himself, watching with detached amusement as this American original schemes and soars and crashes his way through a century of change. At its heart, this is the story of a man too wild for his own good, too brilliant to ignore.
Genres: 20th-century, american, adventure, action, aviation
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: against-all-odds, based-on-true-story
Setting: France, Pacific
Period: 1942
288 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow