In this breezy and enthusiastic book, Amelia Earhart recollects her childhood and youth and her almost accidental discovery that she would rather fly airplanes than do anything else. She writes with an engaging blend of professionalism and love, describing the machines, the pioneering flights, the risks and challenges in exuberant detail. She speaks directly to other young women, urging them to test themselves, to go as far and high as they can—and beyond. Women, she believed, had a natural and important role in aviation; but among the many women fliers mentioned in this book, Earhart is still most vividly remembered.

She was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. In 1931, already a respected aviator, she married George Palmer Putnam, on the condition that they would separate if either of them was unhappy at the end of one year, and that they would be equally free to pursue their own careers, wherever they might lead. Earhart continued to accept new challenges and risks. In 1937 she embarked with navigator Fred Noonan on an around-the-world flight that ended when her airplane was lost in the South Pacific. Their fate remains a mystery today. Her unique life and fate remain issues of perpetual interest.

Earhart was aviation editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine from 1928–1930. Her other books are 20 Hrs. 40 Min. (1928) and Last Flight (1937).

“Miss Earhart knows a great deal about aviation, especially as arts and business and her pages are full of the experiences, the information, the little things and the big things the public likes to know about. ”—New York Times

“. . . an account of the vibrant aviator’s childhood, her fascination with aviation, and her life through her 1932 flight across the Atlantic.”—Booklist

“The entire book sings with Earhart’s light-hearted voice. Her prose is as casual as living-room conversation, but one is always drawn on by her enthusiasm and delicious humor.”—Elliot Bay Booknotes

“It is an informal autobiography written with charm and style . . . an important first-hand account of the history of women in aviation. It is surprisingly contemporary . . .”—Kliatt