Professor examines heroic aviator as pop icon
Simone Schneegans
Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: News
History Professor Brian Horrigan was granted a $50,000 fellowship to explore and write about American taste for heroism and adventure through the story of Charles Lindbergh.
Lindbergh was the aviator who made the non-stop solo flight from Garden City, N.Y. to Paris in 1927, and was also the father of the infamously kidnapped Lindbergh baby.
According to Horrigan, he was also a prolific writer, best-seller and veritable superstar.
"He was the most famous man of his day," Horrigan said. "He was part of a larger context of stories about heroism."
Despite Lindbergh's fame, Horrigan is not writing another biography of the man, but rather a history of American culture and related products that have fascinated the population. In his research, he is interested in examining best-sellers, particularly biography and memoir, as indicators of culture.
Lindbergh's 1953 biography, Spirit of St. Louis, chronicled his life and the famous flight. Horrigan said it is a prime example of the kinds of stories Americans were consuming at the time.
"Tales of manly adventure were hugely popular in the 50s," he said.
Horrigan said Lindbergh is the perfect example of the heroism that captivated Americans.
"He was a media superstar, maybe the first," Horrigan said.
The trial of the man accused of kidnapping Lindbergh's son boosted him to an even higher celebrity status.
According to Horrigan, the so-called "trial of the century" overtook Lindbergh's fame as an aviator and replaced it with his fame as the father of a kidnapping victim.
"The kidnapping [was] a kind of cultural event," Horrigan said.
Comparing contemporary examples of trials and tragedies that increased the fame of already famous people like O.J. Simpson or Princess Diana may be easy, but might not be accurate.
These people don't quite fit the mold, according to Horrigan, because they are pop icons in a way that Lindbergh was not.
"[Lindbergh] has never been written about as a pop culture figure," Horrigan said.
Horrigan's research focuses on biographies and memoirs, superstardom and the culture that craved these phenomena.
By examining the things people were reading, like Lindbergh's biography, Horrigan wants to dig deeper into the images that were and still may be important in American culture.
Lindbergh, a handsome Midwesterner, a relentless pursuer of adventure and a history maker, was a captivating figure, Horrigan said.
According to Horrigan, it might have been the interplay of these characteristics that brought him to the height of fame and kept him there like a beacon of manliness.
Spirit of St. Louis made the ideal adventure available for the public readership and helped define notions of masculinity at the time.
But Lindbergh has not maintained the same kind of iconic status he once did, according to Horrigan.
Anti-intervention sentiments in WWII and suspected anti-Semitism are permanent tarnishes to his image, giving him the reputation of "Lindbergh the Nazi lover."
In 2011, Horrigan will begin his heavy research and writing, delving into the Lindbergh phenomenon and the culture surrounding it.
Lindbergh was the aviator who made the non-stop solo flight from Garden City, N.Y. to Paris in 1927, and was also the father of the infamously kidnapped Lindbergh baby.
According to Horrigan, he was also a prolific writer, best-seller and veritable superstar.
"He was the most famous man of his day," Horrigan said. "He was part of a larger context of stories about heroism."
Despite Lindbergh's fame, Horrigan is not writing another biography of the man, but rather a history of American culture and related products that have fascinated the population. In his research, he is interested in examining best-sellers, particularly biography and memoir, as indicators of culture.
Lindbergh's 1953 biography, Spirit of St. Louis, chronicled his life and the famous flight. Horrigan said it is a prime example of the kinds of stories Americans were consuming at the time.
"Tales of manly adventure were hugely popular in the 50s," he said.
Horrigan said Lindbergh is the perfect example of the heroism that captivated Americans.
"He was a media superstar, maybe the first," Horrigan said.
The trial of the man accused of kidnapping Lindbergh's son boosted him to an even higher celebrity status.
According to Horrigan, the so-called "trial of the century" overtook Lindbergh's fame as an aviator and replaced it with his fame as the father of a kidnapping victim.
"The kidnapping [was] a kind of cultural event," Horrigan said.
Comparing contemporary examples of trials and tragedies that increased the fame of already famous people like O.J. Simpson or Princess Diana may be easy, but might not be accurate.
These people don't quite fit the mold, according to Horrigan, because they are pop icons in a way that Lindbergh was not.
"[Lindbergh] has never been written about as a pop culture figure," Horrigan said.
Horrigan's research focuses on biographies and memoirs, superstardom and the culture that craved these phenomena.
By examining the things people were reading, like Lindbergh's biography, Horrigan wants to dig deeper into the images that were and still may be important in American culture.
Lindbergh, a handsome Midwesterner, a relentless pursuer of adventure and a history maker, was a captivating figure, Horrigan said.
According to Horrigan, it might have been the interplay of these characteristics that brought him to the height of fame and kept him there like a beacon of manliness.
Spirit of St. Louis made the ideal adventure available for the public readership and helped define notions of masculinity at the time.
But Lindbergh has not maintained the same kind of iconic status he once did, according to Horrigan.
Anti-intervention sentiments in WWII and suspected anti-Semitism are permanent tarnishes to his image, giving him the reputation of "Lindbergh the Nazi lover."
In 2011, Horrigan will begin his heavy research and writing, delving into the Lindbergh phenomenon and the culture surrounding it.
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