Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Her Life

Obviously this book was written before the knowledge of Charles Lindbergh's seven - count them seven! - illegitimate children by three different women (two of them sisters, by the way) became public.Not that Ms. Hezog would have wanted to upset the elderly Mrs. Lindbergh's rosy retrospective view of her marriage to the narcissistic tyrant that Lindbergh clearly was. We've all met the Lindbergh type, utterly charming to strangers and a demanding, total bastard to their intimate family members. Reading between the lines of this book, it seemed her family may have had his number earlier than most.Anne, with a shaky sense of self worth to begin with, caved early and completely to Lindy's slightest demand. Reading about the ensuing years, one continues to hope that just once Anne would put her foot down and refuse to participate in his next "bright scheme". But no, time and time again she continues to do his bidding, leaving family and small children behind in order to follow in Charles' wake. Perhaps basking in the cheers of crowds alongside him became as important to her as it was to him?Author Hertzog certainly presents a sympathetic view of her subject. It is hard for me to see why the Lindbergh family (I assume this means her children) would have objected to this book. Perhaps because it is so well researched and truthful in presenting dates and photographs of the various trips and appearances the couple made - both together and separately. Where they went and who they associated with in Europe prior to and after the beginning of World War II makes for interesting and enlightening reading. The description of the meet-up between the Lindberghs and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at a social gathering and how well the two couples empathized with each other is telling.For me, despite Susan Herzog's continuous portrayal of Anne Lindbergh as a "victim", I think she was most of all, sadly, a fool. The photograph of a glowing, smiling Anne at Lindy's side on a podium at an America First rally sealed it for me. This is a couple who had spent time in Germany. They were hosted by top Nazis. They could easily see what was going on there. And they were planning to MOVE to Berlin, forgodsake!Plain and simple, Anne and Charles Lindbergh were without question Nazi sympathizers prior to America entering the war. He was busily giving radio addresses and speeches at which he was lustily cheered and in which he denounced "the Jews" . Anne was at his side for all of this. In addition, she was writing articles defending the totalitarianism of the Nazis.I am glad I read this book, not so much for the author's view of the subject, but for the perhaps inadvertent very clear view given of both Mr. and Mrs. Lindbergh. This woman is held up as a "feminist"? You gotta be kidding me!She may have written a good game, but she sure didn't live it.

Susan Hertog is a beautiful writer, which might explain some of her attraction to Anne Morrow Lindbergh and her beautiful writing. Hertog also has a deep understanding of Lindbergh's feminist dilemma: she became a pilot to fly with her husband, yet women flyers like Amelia Earhart didn't include her in their celestial group because she never flew solo except to get her license; she wanted to stay home with her babies--six including her kidnapped baby--but gave her marriage priority and spent months flying with her husband plotting airway routes; lastly, she was a writer but had to fit that in between her obligations to her family. Still, she was from a wealthy family, so money allowed her to find others to watch her children, and once her husband realized how important her writing was, especially since she wrote about their trips, he encouraged her to write. Hertog makes us feel Lindbergh's inability to stand up to her husband due to her personality and her adherence to the traditional role of women,What I was looking for but didn't find in the book was a deeper understanding of the relationship between Anne and Charles: when did Charles Lindbergh begin his cheating in the name of eugenics. Was it when he found out his somewhat subservient wife was having an affair with her doctor? Hertog never fully explains the sequence of events and never mentions Charles LIndbergh's other families. Was Anne ever aware that he was having affairs? Did she think her affair would bring him to his senses since he would leave her and the children unexpectedly for long periods of time? So, either Anne had her husband's attention when she went with him, or she had the children and her responsibility of raising them when she didn't go with him, and in both instances she would fit her writing in. Yes, she was wealthy, which certainly made many problems solvable, but she was also sensitive and needed to write, she loved her husband and obeyed him without question suppressing her maternal needs, when she finally stood up to him she was straddled with raising teen-agers alone, but perhaps most importantly, she suffered for his fame when her first born son was kidnapped and died.It's a fascinating life and Susan Hertog does an excellent job revealing Anne's soul, but as a reader I wanted more of the latter part of Anne's life with Charles.

If I had to sum up this book in just one word it would be "depressing". After having read a book about Anne Morrows husband, Charles Lindbergh, I thought this book would be great to learn more about his wife Anne. I never really knew anything about her, Charles always seemed to steal the spotlight, which is understandable. I came away with the impression that she really loved her husband, but paid a heavy price in life being married to him. The book did tell me much about Anne Morrow that I never knew, actually I knew very little about her. What I didn't like about the book was the way the author would go into long detail about Anne's poetry, telling the reader what Anne Morrow was trying to tell us. I, myself really could not understand what many of the poems were about, and when Susan Hertog got finished explaining them, I was really lost! There were a couple of parts of the book I just could not wait to get through, they were boring to me. If Anne Morrow had known when she married Charles Lindbergh, what she was in for in her life ahead would she have married him. I think yes, when young and in love, you just don't have the wisdom of an older person. How anyone could move so many times to different homes, and different parts of world, I just don't know. Always on the run from the press, who never left them alone. I also came away from this book feeling that Anne Morrow wanted everything in life, but not enough time to do them all. Money was never a problem for the Lindbergh's, Anne came from great wealth, and after Charles crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Paris in 1927, money and gifts just flowed to him like a open spigot. I came away from this book feeling very sorry for this woman, she just seemed like a sad soul to me. I would hope that for all the bad times in her life, there were just as many or more good times.

Well packaged, took no time to arrive. This book about Anne reveals a different view of her. It was well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.