The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart

In this biography of Amelia Earhart, Lovell ( Straight on Till Morning ) explores the controversial relationship between the celebrated aviatrix and her publicist husband George P. Putnam, a brilliant and aggressive businessman who recognized opportunity in the growing clamor for record-breaking flights. Contrary to the view in Doris L. Rich's Amelia Earhart (Nonfiction Forecasts, Sept. 15) that he disregarded his wife's safety by promoting increasingly dangerous flights, Lovell concludes that Earhart initiated and took responsibility for her own risks, and that their marriage was more substantial than a convenient arrangement of mutual self-interest. While Rich concentrates on Earhart herself, Lovell examines the promotional machinery which publicized her feats when she was alive and gave rise to years of fantastic speculation and false hope about her fate after her disappearance in 1937. The book offers a colorful dimension to the Earhart story by focusing on the flamboyant Putnam who, at least as presented here, is more interesting than the aviatrix herself. Photos not seen by PW . Literary Guild main selection, Doubleday Book Club alternate. (Nov.)