Fearless, Harriet Quimby: A Life Without Limit, is an excellent book about the life of a woman who would not be tied down to expectations. In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s women were for the most part still expected to stick to norms established by male society. Harriet was never going to be tied down to that life. She was full of life and derring-do even as a child. Early on she found she loved to write. As a young woman in San Fransisco, she talked her way into a job at a local paper. As time went on she found a following for her news stories among the local populace. Her stories and news coverage were very popular among the women of the Bay Area. She didn’t just write fluff pieces. She wrote about her experiences such as driving the new automobiles that were becoming more readily available. She loved to go speeding down the streets. She even was the first woman to ride in a car that was moving faster than a hundred miles per hour. She accomplished this by talking her way into a test ride on one of the cars that were entered into a race. Her love for speed and excitement were piqued when she first saw a flying machine in action. She vowed she would be the first woman to pilot a plane. In 1911, she realized her dream and was awarded the first pilot’s license given to a woman. The planes of the time were little more than wooden frames covered by linen and held together with baling wire. Harriet combined her love of flying with her love of writing. She wrote articles of newspapers and magazines giving the woman’s view of flying and accomplishing things that were heretofore thought to be the purview of men only. The book is a very easy read. It details all of Harriet’s accomplishments and her eventual tragedy.This book was provided for review by the publisher, Princeton Architectural Press. ( )

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

Fearless tells the story of Harriet Quimby, an independent-minded American woman who became one of the first licensed pilots in the States and the first to fly over the English Channel on her own--with the latter accomplishment buried in the headlines because of the Titanic disaster. Quimby would be dead herself only a few months later in a tragic airplane accident, vaulted from her plane at a 1000 feet over mudflats near Boston.

Dahler does a wonderful job of placing Quimby's life and death within the context of her times. She was born in Michigan, raised in California, and started off as an intrepid 'girl reporter' in San Francisco before going for the big-time in New York City. She packed an incredible amount of living into her thirty-seven years, and she is due the extra attention that this book will provide her. ( )