FEARLESS

This biography charts the life of a pioneer American aviator.

Born in rural Michigan in 1875, Harriet Quimby enjoyed a life punctuated by firsts. She was among the first women to become a licensed driver, the first woman to secure a pilot’s license in America, and the first woman to fly solo over the English Channel. Dahler’s book records Quimby’s journey from being a “little girl from a Michigan dirt farm” to becoming an accomplished journalist, screenplay writer, and renowned aviator. The author describes the Quimby family’s move to San Francisco via Arroyo Grande, where the young girl developed a taste for writing. She began producing reviews for, among other publications, the San Francisco Dramatic Review, a role that would later see her relocate to Manhattan, where she would work as a theater critic. Dahler also focuses on Quimby’s love for speed, which began as a child, exploring the fields surrounding her family home at “full gallop.” The author draws on a range of secondary sources, including newspaper articles and newsreel stills—alongside Quimby’s personal recollections—to illustrate her landmark achievement of crossing the English Channel. Dahler calls this feat “almost as audacious and perilous as a trip to the moon would be fifty-seven years later.” The author also describes in chilling detail the events surrounding Quimby’s death at the age of 37 after falling from an airplane.

Dahler’s writing is characterized by its effervescent eagerness to tell Quimby’s story. This urgency makes for a fast-paced, compelling narrative: “Harriet Quimby was about to take a literal, and literary, leap into the void. If she survived, and there was certainly no guarantee of that, her leap was to be a first for women.” The author adds further drama by using intense, poetic descriptions: “Wraiths of heavy salt air floated across the White Cliffs of Dover, bestowing their wet caresses on everyone and everything that waited day after day for a break in the fog and lashing rain.” Some readers may consider this aspect of Dahler’s approach slightly overwrought on occasion: “Their petrichor marked a subtle change of fortune.” Yet despite mild bouts of wordiness, the author succeeds in evoking a haunting atmosphere that lends extra texture to the biography. Dahler is also expert in providing intricate social and historical background to Quimby’s life story. In one passage, the author brings the streets of 1900s San Francisco—which Quimby would have walked—to life: “Streetlights bore ornate globed tops. Pedestrians in long dresses and top hats strolled along broad sidewalks.” This keen eye for detail makes for a vivid, multifaceted book. On discovering Quimby, Dahler remarks, “it was stunning to me that someone who accomplished so much was virtually lost to history because of a cruel and horrific twist of fate.” The author’s passion to celebrate and commemorate Quimby’s accomplishments is palpable throughout, making this an engrossing, enlightening, and thoroughly enjoyable biography.

Informed, eloquent writing; this meticulous account is a must for aviation historians and enthusiasts alike.