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There are currently 25 member reviews
for Fly Girls
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Andrea
History of Women's Aeronautics
Keith O'Brien focuses on five female pilots in a non fiction book that reads like fiction.
This book feels like both a historical account of aeronautics and women's history. Like in most careers, women pilots had to fight for themselves to get a foothold in the industry.
Overall an interesting read.
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Joe S. (Port Orange, FL)
Interesting and a Good Read
I thought that Fly Girls was a good book. It was interesting, exciting and very hard to put down.The book is well researched, well written, and easy to read. It is not a history of women in aviation but the stories of five women who loved to fly and wanted to be taken seriously as pilots and show that they were just as capable as the men. It follows their attempts and eventual success to participate in the National Air Races and compete against the male pilots.
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Gail Brooks
No Powder Puffs Allowed
Like some of the early flights, Fly Girls got off to a slow start, but when a man (Cliff Henderson) entered the picture and organized the 1929 Air Race from Santa Monica to Cleveland, the book picked up speed. The reader will recognize some names (Earhart, Beech, Cessna), but a few others, forgotten today but familiar at the time, flesh out the tale. To realize that just 90 years ago there were fewer than two dozen female pilots, this is the story of courage and determination of a handful of women who took to the sky.
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Cheryl W. (Crosby, MN)
Fly Girls is a Winner
I thought this book was so interesting about the history of women avionics. Pioneers they all were, many crashes and deaths. The most famous member of the 99ers club of course was Amelia Earhart and we all know what happened to her. Great history about these women.
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Barb W. (Mechanicsburg, PA)
Fly Girls
At an early age, our son declared to everyone who would listen that he was going to be a pilot when he grew up. He is now a pilot with the US Air Force, and our family has been interested in all things associated with aviation and aviation history for years. This book sounded right up that alley, and I couldn't wait to start reading it.
While it seems to be a bit of a bandwagon topic right now -- the women who did this, the women who did that -- that's not necessarily a bad thing. The world at large needs to realize and acknowledge the contributions made by women in many fields that have typically been male-centered for decades. This book fulfills that purpose, although some of the reading was a bit dry and almost textbook-like.
I know it's hard to make a non-fiction book read like a fiction book, but other authors have done it and done it well (David McCullough, anyone?). Perhaps a bit more 'character development' would have brought this from a 4-star read to a 5-star book?
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Carol T. (Ankeny, IA)
Fly away, girls...
This "good" book could have been excellent. Unfortunately, O'Brien is of the "just the facts, ma'am" school and failed to make any of the women come to life. While they, and most of the people who knew them, are long gone, surely someone's diary captured the real women who gave up so much just to fly.
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Donna W. (Wauwatosa, WI)
Fly Girls
I found "Fly Girls" to be a fascinating account of a little known time in the field of aviation. Other than Amelia Earhart, all the other female flyers were unknown to me, and the struggles they encountered continue to be relevant. This book brought not only their stories, but the story of aviation in general, to life for me. Very interesting book.
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