The first half of this book is superb in detailing the development of the organ perfusion pump and related scientific breakthroughs made by Dr. Carrel and Mr. Lindbergh in the 1930s. In this part, Mr. Friedman relies mostly on his own research. The second half describes the sad fate of Mr Carrel, who was unfairly accused of collaboration, and the unique fate of Mr Lindbergh, who was demonized during the neutrality debate...
0Report
Careful textbooks in my home state, Minnesota, portray Charles Lindbergh as an "isolationist" opponent to US participation in World War II. After all, he was a hero - OUR hero - a Swedish American from our state. Author David Friedman, with quite thorough evidence, portrays Lindbergh differently, as an admirer of Hitler and Hitler's Germany, who wrote to his American friend that Hitler "is undoubtedly a great man, and I believe...
0Report
This book centers on the period of Charles Lindbergh's life when he was working with Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Carrel had won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1912 for his work on suturing blood vessels. He had also been lauded for his method of disinfecting wounds with chlorine (this was decades prior to the development and use of antibiotics). They were both famous men and, when...
0Report
Never having read a real biography of Lindberg, and never having heard of Alexis Carrel, this book introduced me to a new universe of thought. Friedman is empathetic and compassionate when he describes the tragic (as in Greek tragedy, a flaw that dooms greatness) shortcomings of men he obviously very much admires. Carrel and Lindberg thought of themselves, with some justification, as Olympians. Carrel didn't suffer fools...
0Report
I enjoyed this book a lot, having learned much more about Lindbergh than I ever knew, especially his apparent eventual repudiation of eugenics and the Nazis and his new-found commitment to environmentalism. But how does Friedman know about all the thoughts Lindbergh had as he reassesses his values in light of particular experiences? The notes at the back, which provide references for particular lines of many pages, in many...
0Report