Kristen Alexander. Taking Flight: Lores Bonney's Extraordinary Flying Career. Canberra: NLA Publishing, 2016. If Australia had an equivalent to Amy Johnson, Jean Batten, and Amelia Earhart, it was Lores Bonney: the first woman to fly around Australia (1932), the first woman to fly from Australia to England (1933), the first person to fly from Australia to South Africa (1937). But she's not very well-known. This might do something to change that. Looks like a nice companion piece to Michael Molkentin's Flying the Southern Cross, also published by the NLA.
James Harris. The Great Fear: Stalin's Terror of the 1930s. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. A short book making a big claim: that the purges were the result of the belief that the Soviet Union was under imminent threat by internal conspiracy and external attack. It wasn't, but in this case perception mattered more than reality. Hmm, that idea sounds familiar somehow...
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Kristen Alexander
Re Taking Flight. I'm really pleased you added it to your collection, Brett. And yes, not only is it a good companion piece to Flying the Southern Cross, but I cited that excellent book. If you haven't got to it yet, check out the acknowledgements for the connection between Taking Flight and Michael Molkentin! Like you, I hope that Taking Flight will bring Lores Bonney to more prominence.
Brett Holman
Post authorNo worries, Kristen; I'm looking forward to reading it. Is the NLA doing a (rather leisurely) aviation series, or are these two books just a chance result of publishing schedules? They look very similar in format and feel, so I was hoping there might be more coming out!
Kristen Alexander
Hallo Brett, no NLA are not doing an aviation series. Both my book and Flying the Southern Cross are part of their collection highlights series, where they feature important diaries or manuscripts from their collection, with explanatory commentary. In Taking Flight's case, that explanatory commentary included a lot of biographical detail. Hope you enjoyed it.