Perspective

Written in the third person as a biographical account of Charles Lindbergh, An American Hero is a balanced examination of Lindbergh's entire life. The author, Barry Denenberg, has written many nonfiction books for middle-grade and young adult readers. As such, concepts are expressed clearly and simply, and vocabulary is appropriate for younger readers.

Denenberg attempts to write an unbiased view of Lindbergh. Despite the title of An American Hero, Denenberg's biography is not a hagiography, and Denenberg is not particularly reverential to his subject. There are two parts to the book, "Ascent" and "Descent", and indeed, Lindbergh's life story can be rather neatly divided between his triumph of the transatlantic flight and the tragedy of the Lindbergh kidnapping, along with Lindbergh's plummet in popularity during World War II. Denenberg does not gloss over either section and gives each section its due.

At several controversial points in Lindbergh's biography...