Publisher's Synopsis
This book examines the role of photography and the media in constructing Amelia Earharts iconic image, which remains as identifiable today as it was in 1937, the year her plane disappeared over the Pacific. Earharts career in the public eye began in 1928, when she was selected to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, in part because of her physical resemblance to Charles Lindbergh. In a time when aviators were glamorous symbols of adventure and modernity, Earhart was launched into instant celebrity aided considerably by one of the flights promoters, publisher George Palmer Putnam, whom Earhart later married. Between 1928 and her disappearance, Earhart was frequently pictured in newspapers and magazines, which profiled her record-breaking flights, forays into clothing design, or her endorsements for everything from cigarettes to luggage. Earhart, in turn, capitalized on the fame that her flying accomplishments (paired with Putnams relentless promotional machine) brought her to champion the advancement of women and other causes about which she was passionate and outspoken. In her unconventional pants and leather jacket, she became the embodiment of the new roles that began to seem possible for American women in the 1920s and 30s.
