.. [inaudible conversations] good evening everybody i am the events director here and thank you to all of you for coming out this evening. it means so much that you will spend your money at community community brick-and-mortar community owned businesses that

have the culture that it is. speeseventeen i would like you to silent yourself on if you enjoy tonight reading you can follow us on mine. go to facebook or instagram or twitter. up to date with these events looking at that fall schedule. also on that you can buy tonight book fly girls. there is some swag to be raffled at the in of the reading if you got a book already and did not get a ticket get one before you go. don't leave you might miss the swag.

so i will to you about tonight events a former reporter for the boston globe and frequent contributor to npr. and from new york times magazine the author >> he is the author of the brand-new fly girls.fly gi we are so lucky to have somebody here to dive into a history of his not even aware of. to imagine a daredevil pitcher a a grizzled dude on a motorcycle to see that archetype conjured up you know what i'm talking about. admit i hate to admit this but theen vision of a mother of two in a biplane would not have crossed my mind even though they riskat

their lives inside the cockpit to take a decommissioned post that does not terrify you imagine doing that in a race or how many hope to crash and burn to defy the gender norms or hate you enough to sabotage the vehicle you are flying. so so please put your hands to gather for keith o'brien. [applause] >> thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. so with those visions of the archetypes that lydia discussed i i would like to make a confession i don't particularly like to fly. i don't like turbulence or the drops that planes make for the

inexplicable reason and at take off when you barrel down theke f runway 100 miles per hour and leaping into the air as you movh further away from the ground from safety? i don't like that feeling at all. i have to fly for work i do likk to travel for pleasure so not s flying is not an option but inevitably you will find me from ofme to time in the middle seatw that i alone am holding up the plane. a few years coach as ago i wasf these flights new orleans to chicago where the pilot comes on before hand to say it will be a bad flight. it was hot and stormy and dark and he was right in the middle of the flight bouncing around in the sky i and in my seats trying

to be in a tiny ball but also resisting the urge because that would look insane and the woman next to me totally noticed and d took pity on me and turned to me and said honey i think i can help you i have xanax. [laughter] that is me as a flyer. so it begs the question why someone like me would spend the last two 1/2 years of his life researching and writing about planes at a time when air travee was exponentially more dangerous why would i do that? it has nothing to do with airplanes i was drawn to this story becausec

it was the story of the ethics l populated by characters who were willing to risk everything and sacrifice everything to do with a lovear to fly through adversiy with entrenched discrimination keep going then triumph in the end. i knew i knew i wanted to tell the story but it is a real honor to be here tonight to share this story with you especially here some of you may know i'm a former reporter for the boston globe. [applause] i lived in the city for many years my child was born in the city and i used to come to this

bookstore and think how i i ever get a book placed here? it is a thrill to be here tonight. everybody take pictures of me se later i can prove i can prove i was here doing this. so whenever i tell a storyory wl whether for national public radio to identify those scenes and moments so i want to begin tonight with you and september 1933 the waning days of summer the city was struggling in the grip of the great depression with recordrec unemployment redlines down the street and the house is soth

filled with thieves they would still everything even your shoes that labor day 1932 would be different in chicago 400,000 people 400,000 people were streaming into the city by rail car and automobile coming for an exciting event for the air races. forget what you about modern day airshows with the scripted flying event but in the 20s and 30s where winners and wes a were -- losers and also enormous crowds undoubtedly one of the most popular sports of the timet and definitely the mosti dangerous and other debris thepr pilots flying the single propeller open cockpit plane atf a high rate of speed would crash

and they would often die right there in front of the grandstand.right so with dangers like these, many men believed that there was no place for a woman. it sounds absurd today it is sexist and demeaning and clearle wrong. but in the mid-1920s it is important to remember there were laws that forbade women from doing all sorts of things onlycd the fatherer was considered the sole legal guardian of a child nly a father could determine welfare or education by law the mother had say.education an in georgia and maryland a fathea who died could his children be

raised by someone other than his ther of wife and the wife could do nothing to stop it. in iowa women cannot run for the state legislature in new york they cannot work the night shcae t no waiting tables after 9:00 o'clock p.m. no taxicabs laws forbade women from working and they denied other basic right at around this time and the mother wanted to see the theater company for negligence that she was denied the right only a father could collect death of a m damages in and this boy's father was already dead she had no

husband child and no recourse. women wishing to fly base similar changes. so send in ears removed frommfr winning the right toom vote 30 million registered female voters in this country 30 million adult women feweron d than one dozen in 1928 with a pilots license on file with the department of commerce so theo few women who did fly as true radicals in chicago labor daye 19331 of the women was about to do the most radical of all she would race the men and a a

triangular course at a high rate of speed she was 29 years old hi andgh ra divorced her plane wasn fast and was known to be dangerous not far from here and for brief period of time it was the kind of plane you wanted to and th have even though it had killed many men before. w to they knew she was doing and how to fly it the crowd knew what to flying off the deck at 200 miles per hour bangs her playing sofeo hard it stood up on one wing.

just look at that girl the announcer said. that was his words. just look at that girl. have you ever seen such a beautiful race?c she was right there. eighth gut then on the home i am on thi right wing began to buckle undeo the buc strain pieces would como the ground like confetti and the wind was whisttling through thee wings and she flew away from the competitors and the crowdenview chicago trying to save thed tryn people on the ground to gaing elevation and altitude to save herself.

everybody is watching the little red plane knowing one of two things about to happen she will bail from a dangerously altitude for she will crash and not end well. that woman's name was florence probably have not heard of her. most peopleeyou prob haven't. thinking of women and an oviation we tend to think of onw woman, amelia ehrhardt as if she was all alone flying solo. ehrhw by the time she other women were flying withh her just as bold ad brave as she was somewhere even

more skilled today we have forgotten almost everything their battles and losses andh hr friendship and rivalries what they fought for even their even forgot their impossible vi impossible victory.e with this book we hope to change that to remind readers of these women who stood up forrs of then again and again defiant in the face of rulesinte intended to keep them in their place and confident in the knowledge of who they were. i would like to introduce you to a few of them.

ruth elder was a flashy alabama housewife working at a dentist office in lakeland florida. it was not the life she expected for herself and in 1927 he would decide she would be the first woman to ever fly across the ocean, across the atlantic a dream that ruth would pay an awful price.om amelia ehrhardt a a social worker fromto boston she came nt we have forgotten that with our mythology of ehrhardt was not the sole champion but to be plucked from security in 1928 by

wealthy businessman to be placec on a plane that would make her famous born on the upper eastwe side of new york westchesterstcy county before the depression stock market crash she had options those would to window she wanted everything that amelia had. farmer's daughter from earl minnesota dearing the point ofbe being reckless as a child got al job as one -- at a drycleaners and parlayed into the racing career.c can marie was the most unusualer

the rarest aviator not just into flying and racing planes that a mother having her first child in 1930 and 1930 and her second in 1933. and believing a woman shoman shd stay home and raise the. the that leaves did something very unusual at the time that we can all appreciate now, she tried to have it all.tions to juggle her personal dreams and ambitions with her children and her love for them. n.is is the sacrifice that shete

too would be forgotten. recent days and too would be forgotten. decent days and recent months an how are they the same or d different? it is a difficult question to answer because some came from money somewhere educated their fathers were wall street traders and laborers but they did have a flu characteristic common and try to identify early on while i was still writing thought it would help me to understand to under better from a young age they knew they were different they didn't want to wear those frillt white dresses she wanted to wear

.ants and overalls and playts sports. amelia ehrhardt way try to hide t e fact of her mother cuttingna it off 1 inch at a time. they were all daring.mo at a time when young women didte not ride motorcycles. surris and in a little streetcar inan morehead sodas she chose not to ride in the seat with everybodyg else but would hang onto the cow catcher upfront much to the horror of her high schoolhigh sh classmates.d with hose they are called the early adopters. they chose to fly and time whent

it was still very dangerous and many men did not want to fly. ey they predicted early on that flying was the future this iser ythe future that one day everyoe would fly. the other interesting thing is how they were raised i mentioned how different their situations but they did have one thing in common. at a time when a a father could tell his daughter and son what was expected him of her for who they would marry these fathers could have told their daughters no. you will not fly. their mothers struggled with the

path they chose that the mother tacitly approved or actively encouraged their daughters to follow their own dreams to fly if they wanted to and at times to introduce them to flying themselves.ce. so that is pretty relevant advice. let your child wear his or heror hair short if they want to or let them where a dress or follow seeir own path.beau because you never know where that will lead. so i would like to read briefly from the book and then i'm happi to take any questions you might have. i will set up this reading

really quickly. we early september 1927 lindberg successfully flew the atlantic not just for the pioneering spirit of itit all but for a jackpot the first man to fly successfully to get a a jackpot of $25,000 and when he made thee flight but then put on a goodwill to her of america where he was paid an additional $50,000 to visit townsend ride in the parade a young woman inwn ilkeland floridad decide she ww

fly across the ocean for free her name is ruth so to land wite the subtlety of gail the brownt hair bobbed in the latest style almost never appearing with aeai scarfng appea around her head te engine was a brilliant shade ofn orange less to do with flair and practicality and it was easier to find an orange plane than a silver one but the floridian had no intention to put her played pe the water. and too

all the way down to the name painted on therfn to t fuselagen girl. runway ready already commanding always commanding their their attention with thestinc tivedistinctive high pitched voe give a weather break will take off then what is your hurry? i've been planning this ever since i started flying then lindberg did it and i was more determined i want to be the first to challenge.l i will do it only went to fly ty paris because you are a girl? th she said i i hear they have pretty evening gowns and thene a set i've never been to europe i i might as well go this m way c back andf take it easy no flying back for me.as

the reporters wanted to know everything about her was she married or gaugeds hnoe. and said listen i married were they afraid or to be back out oa the end?f it? she said no and no. she was in new york all of half an hour checking in at the nearby garden city.r veicrit describing her nose as perfectly powdered criticizing her purse or knickers asking the 24-year-old women and getting her to admit she was not trulys serious..wht is t what is this you are doing? advertising a movie or getting yourself well known to get a contract? a contract? no. i will fly to paris don't you

understand?? i'm here to fly. looking out at the reporters and beyond them elder must have feln not too to long island long island but an altogether different world one of seven children raised on noble streete and the modest homes and thearm farm laborer and a a pipefitting shop it was not good enough for ruth for the oldest child sheft mhortly after the 18thday o birthday moving west to the citr of room in the boardinghouseouna there and instead the life she's kept secret not desperatelyw de hoping to hide from the new york

reporters.hofr the getting a job a job selling lingerie in a department store and got a husband but the marriage did not take and was divorced in 1925 married again.. el with the electric sign sales. to live in ordinary life east of tampa getting a a job in a dentist office and womack helpeo help to introduce his young wife to i flying and a florida businessman who were fond of both. and then with that stolen opportunity and the well-known local pilot was doing most of the flying and elder doing thedo smiling and with those snowbirds they saw value. as financial backers to shoot footage and sell it to

hollywood. there was just one caveat she has to say she was never marrien ma the men were marketing a product and could not be labeled missesd west m virginians agreed to putp $35,000 to buy a plane a plane leaving the right woman for the job so pretty it doesn't seem right the fairest of the brave and the bravest of the fair. she would make it to paris or she wouldn't or tell thehe tale either way they were unsure and is better than playing out her years working in a dentist or office and making dinner for her husband. the trick was getting haldermann

to teach her to fly and getting him to go with her across the ocean inevitably was always crying about something that she wore him down with dogged determination. i want to do something that will make people notice me. if is it worth risking their life the reporter asked?? yes it is.s it is. there is only one way to there is only one way to screw up the deal to lose to another woman who had a plan of her own she was staring at the ocean north.es to the [applause]

i am happy to take any questions you might have. anything at all. > the neck i can definitely resonate with your comments because i truly experienced the same thing. my dad said you can do anything you want you probably won't dogd what i did so i did but flying the airplane very young that was the best experience of my personal life so that's it brought me here today and itoday thank you so much for coming. >> that perseverance and what got them through and trying toam communicate so that's why i i an interested in your book.tere and this is a good way to portray it. but i am curious when you did your research commercial pilots,

how many are there and how many are women or what percentage of the executives in the cockpit? >> yes. the question is how many women pilots are there? before i get into the numbers i will give history in 1934 themyo window of my story takesry place in airline called central airlines hiers ms. ritchie to be the first commercial airlineco pilot and it did not go well.mml the male pilots union refused tm admitit her and the governmentas placed all kinds of restrictions on helen as to when she could or could not fly with whether or passengers et cetera that maletc pilots did not face so within

months helen is forced out she quit and she resigned and she is out and i say that say what ian find to be stunning not just that but as i find i find out for myself when did the next whd e-mail airline pilot get hired? the answer is 1973.er thirty-nine years later. thirty-nine 39 years later frontier airlines and american airlines eacnine 39 years later frontier airlines and american airlines each hire a pilot that year. i was fortunate through research in the book to meet one of thost women she's from florida whenora american airlines hired her she knew she was just as good as the men but a woman a woman flies no man the planean a is a great equalizer.

but still this woman faced the same adversity the characters did in fly girls 45 years earlier. she faced snide remarks, peoplea suggest she leave american and get hired somewhere else, and to me as a journalist what is the most shocking was the headline from the l.a. times about this pilot in 1973 a little feature the headline was airline pilotat flies by the seat of her panties. 1973. a major american newspaper.as yd you grown and i i groaned you also know who still remembers that headline? bonnie herself she is a great a

great here when and pioneer in her own right. >> so 25 years ago in central california a friend of minecalif inherited her mother's biplane. her mother won the first amelia ehrhardt race with it and i remember flying in that plane. i. i did it once from fresno to watsonville in an air show we flew over the mountains i was in the cockpit she was flying from the back and coming back we gotd into trouble and landed in an open field and she took care of it and got back up in the air. and it flew very smoothly. >> it's a great story.

the story of flying a vintage biplane much later so what i find most interesting about that story is that kind of stuff happened all the time. imagine today if you're flying in the delta pilot said we will land in this field it looks pretty flat.saksis i'm going to fix this issue and then we will get back up and on our way..our you didn't fly with a mechanic. when my narrative begins in 1827 almost every airfield is dirt or pasture. or the first modern air races i called them modern because really it is when they became at be show or an event along the lines like of a a super bowl in los angeles 1928 and at that time

had 11 little airstrips in theh metro area but they were really small but the promoters of the air races wanted something big grand they convince the city of los angeles to purchasean then t 1000 acres 1,000 acres of it being and barleyo 00 acres field and that is for they would hold these races in 1928 at the time it was known as mainz field today it is lax. >> you said at the beginning pilots license were issued by the department of commerce i'm assuming there was no tsa. [laughter] so when did it come federal? or was it only commercial at that point?? that been a great question. reg

so when was it a a regulated industry when people got ale hao license why was the department of commerce doing that? great questions. in 1926 by the end of the year everybody realizes we have ahat problem. a lot of people are flying and we are not regulating it at allt regulating thi the chicago tribune ran as stot with a call wildcat flight schoo school and identified three dozen wildcat flight schools inn the the chicagoland area and one of the stories the reporter wrote i how poorly trained they were and onat little training they hadlii and what little regulation there was at the schools that when you

graduate quote unquote from the school and get your diploma you should get a coupon for a coffin as well. so in 1926 the department of commerce becomes the regulatinga agency and they start collecting licenses in an official manner. but don't think suddenly that may think everything like it is today. when these planes would crash even after the department of commerce became the regulatory agency they would still figure out what happened but they never could. they rarely could. and at times as early airplane travel begins the early airlines in 1929 a horrific 1929 are horrific story of an airline fly

flying southwest flying over nes mexico and arizona and it just disappeared. they could not find this airliner for days by the time theyou found it in the wastelans of desert, everybody was dead. >> there is the acrobatic association issued licenses for a while in the 20s that orville wright would sign?? >> he signed a lot of the licenses even for these women here. in. in fact on the very first page a picture in the book there is an image of the license of bruce mom -- and amelia is title ofpls most accomplished female pilot

and there was this beautiful image of her license from her dc descendents down in georgia and the signature is orville wright. >> where does beryl markham sitd in with the fly girls? some background and then i'll answer i was looking to tell one specific story about women inthd aviation the story of women fighting for the right to fly and then to try triumph and beat the men. as a journalist i learned long ago you have to know what your story is about in two lines oriw less if you can then you know what you need to find or whoherr your characters are because in the late 20s and through theimee

time when my story and, hundreds of women are flying. to be really accomplished and prominent femalee acco pilot. the reason why i chose these characters is because they were friends. they interacted with one another when one would crash and another would come to visit and be there for her. and be t but to beryl first on the scene at the end of the story she flies the atlantic ocean in the oppositean direction from europe to north america and crash lands on the coast of canada so she

makes a daring fight at the very end of the narrative. and with that different narrative. and they may remember her story because she was a character with the out of africa story.ut a mir >> your article about amelia ehrhardt i was stunned because i don't think anybody knew she was a social worker in boston. where did she live? where? where did she go? what books did she read? all i ever i ever hear about amelia ehrhardt she is lost in the ocean with a copilot.mind.

but this also blew my mind. i like to think i am curious and observant and i did not i did not know either. and a couple of things that happened in the quest toone gr remember one greateat woman we simplified her story to the point oft this and legend becaue the real story is much more interesting and we have forgotten the other and w omen e was with when she was here in boston it wasn't necessarily her choice.e she was a bit of a nomad landino here because her sister was a

teacher and her mother was divorcing her husband inher husn california and amelia was dragged along. but she didn't have money to gol to college. and then applies for different jobs. it was something she could have done what she learned to fly in 1821 she has no plane or street credit aid don't know who she is and instead a place or at the t settlement house on tyler street. there is a plaque outside of th home, 76 brook street.

the decent size of a modest home nestled into the neighborhood. a 's ym curious what was youris biggest research challenge maybe it wasn't quite as difficult but what are those challenges you went through? >> what were those challenges with those who are sadly long gone? a so with the newly i had i had to resist the challenge that's mostly what has been done with amelia's life.

b i was looking to tell a different story a different story of an ensemble cast.of but you know what was important in my story. for those bigger challenges or with other women. early on i did wonder can i make ruth nichols, live in three liei in three dimensions on the pages of thens book? can i make florence come alive on the pages of the book?? i got a lot of lucky breaks along the way i found records but little historical societies in the town of moorehead

minnesota and quietly over they years and no bright lights and and then to say i have a lot on florence. to do l those who have done oral histories. and then i said to mark i will like to come tomorrow can you accommodate?nicol ruth nichols lived for quite a long time and knew her wholes

life that she was someone. knowing that her papers were somewhere. s and then i found these records in the back room in this cinderblock room at the international women's air and space museum at this regional airport in cleveland and i iitha almost did not believe them. i ked hi can you take a picture of these file cabinets are speaking of? because? because my idea have a lot of records and then to take the picture for me and e-mails it. and here are three file cabinetd to be off of the ties to be

completely organized and suddenly ruth nichols is alive again. those were the best moments. >> i have been fortunate to have an advance copy of this book it in is incredibly and beautifully written and incomprehensibly well reported. >> i will i will pay the $20. >> leaving off a 1973 where we

see there hadn't been much progress but if you take a modern jet today it seems like a vast geordie of the pilot remaii men.n men.pe it seems that it persist. are th >> so what are the percentages? today? essentially roughly 7% are women that number has grown steadily over the years and is growing in all branches ofd military the ad navy and air force and the armys have all seen marketed increases

with female pilots in the last 20 years. there is some interesting research out there.the is d there is decades of research out there crash data that shows it's no different a female pilot is just as good as a man. and to show that even safer than a man. thank you for coming and i will close with one quick thought. i'm thrilled to show this storya with you and i i appreciate your questions. and it was an honor to tell thes story and as a reporter i felt it was important to tell the stories of the underrepresented.

and to pay my respects a little but yesterday morning, i i had a free couple of hours an wa opportunity to do something i wanted to i wanted to do during the reporting of this book for the book launch and book event u use that to take a train to ther bronx and those that's buried in woodlawn cemetery a sprawling and beautiful cemetery andportaa chances are you are buried at woodlawn.

i got my math any in the office and they try to directct me with little icons were all the famous people are. finding my way to the cemetery blazing ce hot it wasn't one ofe giant mausoleums one that she herself may have expected youdep for thingsress changed just like many of us m might have. of ea name, date of name, date of birth and date of death and at the bottom secured by the iv that said beloved by all.

i hope she will be again. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> what am i reading? what i'm trying to finish right now is the best and the brightest from the mid 60s in vietnam a recent addition from senator john mccain about the importance of this book to understand vietnam but what i'm interested is crypto about privacy and encryption and that gives you context for what is happening. there is a movie out about it.

growing growing up in the 80s and the '90s with the things that they highlight but a woman i got the chance to meet. this is a a story from how she went from being a dreamer to high-speed low drag financially sick as we deal with immigration here in washington d.c. and a classic one of america's best stare toward longer storytellers i'm talking about the administration of abraham lincoln. always to understand the history

that political genius of abraham lincoln. in the last time we had this conversation it is something we are trying to do. so with the moms and dads >> watching . . . .

>> host: we are here to talk about your book. it's something i think it would've people need to read and people in the military take note, "fight like a girl. there's a lot to go over and we will take time to do that. set the stage for people who may