West With The Night

The classic memoir of Africa, aviation, and adventure—the inspiration for Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun and “a bloody wonderful book” (Ernest Hemingway). Beryl Markham’s life story is a true epic. Not only did she set records and break barriers as a pilot, she shattered societal expectations, threw herself into torrid love affairs, survived desperate crash landings—and chronicled everything. A contemporary of Karen Blixen (better known as Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of Africa), Markham left an enduring memoir that soars with astounding candor and shimmering insights. A rebel from a young age, the British-born Markham was raised in Kenya’s unforgiving farmlands. She trained as a bush pilot at a time when most Africans had never seen a plane. In 1936, she accepted the ultimate challenge: to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west, a feat that fellow female aviator Amelia Earhart had completed in reverse just a few years before. Markham’s successes and her failures—and her deep, lifelong love of the “soul of Africa”—are all told here with wrenching honesty and agile wit. Hailed as “one of the greatest adventure books of all time” by Newsweek and “the sort of book that makes you think human beings can do anything” by the New York Times, West with the Night remains a powerful testament to one of the iconic lives of the twentieth century.

WEST WITH THE NIGHT appeared on 13 bestseller lists on first publication in 1942. It tells the spellbinding story of Beryl Markham -- aviator, racehorse trainer, fascinating beauty -and her life in the Kenya of the 1920s and 30s. Markham was taken to Kenya at the age of four. As an adult she was befriended by Denys Finch-Hatton, the big-game hunter of OUT OF AFRICA fame, who took her flying in his airplane. Thrilled by the experience, Markham went on to become the first woman in Kenya to receive a commercial pilot's license. In 1936 she determined to fly solo across the Atlantic -- without stopping. When Charles Lindbergh did the same, he had the wind behind him. Markham, by contrast, had a strong headwind against her and a plane that only flew up to 163 mph. On 4 September, she took off ... Several days later, she crash-landed in Nova Scotia and became an instant celebrity.

ABOUT THE BOOK I’ve always been interested in women in history, particularly those of the 20th century. Somehow, though, I had never heard of Beryl Markham until I came across her book, “West With the Night,” about a year or so ago. The cover’s engaging portrait of Markham, looking patrician and quite beautiful in her aviator helmet, immediately drew my attention. As I began to read the account of her life, I was quickly hooked by her fascinating description of life in British East Africa (today known as Kenya) in the early 1900s: Imagine taking off in a two-seater plane and narrowly avoiding a zebra. My impression was confirmed the more I read: Markham was clearly a woman who lived in a completely different world than I do in 21st century America: She bred championship racehorses. She flew planes into remote parts of Africa. And she managed to write about it without a hint of boasting. Her writing is simple and honest. No less a writer than Ernest Hemingway, a friend of Markham’s, praised the book as “bloody wonderful” in a letter to Maxwell Perkins, as cited on the back cover of the 1983 edition of West with the Night). Markham’s account showed me that life is meant to be lived to the full. Taking risks and trying new things is what gives life its savor. Telling other’s about one’s adventures allows them to savor them too. MEET THE AUTHOR Laura Brestovansky has more than 20 years of writing/editing/proofreading experience, including blogs, e-books, articles, brochures, press releases and more. Currently, she is also the public relations liaison for Caregivers Professional Resources (www.cprmich.com), whose duties include writing the CPR Airway blog. She has written on a number of topics, including health care, home improvement, travel, religion and social issues. She graduated with honors from Eastern Michigan University, majoring in journalism and political science. When she’s not on the computer (whether writing, editing or surfing), she’s spending time with her husband and three children, possibly biking or hiking with them or watching a classic movie. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK West With the Night is Beryl Markham’s memoir of her life in British East Africa (Kenya). She was a racehorse breeder, bush pilot and the first woman to fly across the Atlantic from east to west. The book begins with Markham’s review of an old flight logbook, which sets the scene for the entire book -- British East Africa in the 1930s. Once setting the scene she recounts her journey to deliver oxygen to a sick minor: “-- a job to be done at an uncomfortable hour with sleep in my eyes and a half a grumble on my lips.” While the flight itself is routine, Markham flies with the knowledge that a friend and fellow pilot is missing in the Serengeti.

Trivia-on-Book: West with the Night by Beryl Markham Take the challenge yourself and share it with friends and family for a time of fun! West with the Night is Beryl Markham’s memoir. In this book, she chronicles her life in Kenya and all the adventures she had there. She also talks about her experience as the first female horse trainer in Africa and the world. In her memoir, Markham details her experience with the one thing she is most well-known for—flying. The memoir covers a lot of ground, including the many jobs Beryl held, her small adventures with elephants and lions as well as her relationships with her friends and other members of both the white community and the Nandi tribe. An excellent, witty, and fast-paced biography, West with the Night is the success story of one woman who refused to bow down. You may have read the book, but not have liked it. You may have liked the book, but not be a fan. You may call yourself a fan, but few truly are. Are you a fan? Trivia-on-Books is an independently curated trivia quiz on the book for readers, students, and fans alike. Whether you're looking for new materials to the book or would like to take the challenge yourself and share it with your friends and family for a time of fun, Trivia-on-Books provides a unique approach to West with the Night by Beryl Markham that is both insightful and educational! Features You'll Find Inside: • 30 Multiple choice questions on the book, plots, characters and author • Insightful commentary to answer every question • Complementary quiz material for yourself or your reading group • Results provided with scores to determine "status" Promising quality and value, come play your trivia of a favorite book!

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I would like to begin at the beginning, but there are a hundred places to start and a hundred names. I can begin by choosing one of them, not because it is first or of any importance in a wildly adventurous sense, but because it is turned uppermost in my logbook. #2 Nungwe was a town that lay west and south of Nairobi on the southernmost rim of Lake Victoria Nyanza. It was barely alive when I went there in 1935. It was a Mecca for gold miners, who had begun to dig there. #3 Nairobi was a gateway to a new country, and it was growing quickly. It was a place of shillings and pounds and land sales and trade, extraordinary successes and failures. Its shops sold whatever you needed to buy. #4 Africa is a land full of mysteries, wildness, and heat. It is a photographer’s paradise, a hunter’s Valhalla, and an escapist’s Utopia. It is what you want it to be, and it withstands all interpretations. It is the last vestige of a dead world or the cradle of a shiny new one.

Contains nearly two hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on women's autobiography, covering selected authors from throughout history, major works, nationalities or ethnicities, and related issues, themes, and terms.

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Memoir Ethics: Good Lives and the Virtues is a philosophical study of moral themes in memoirs. It explores how memoirists present and defend perspectives on good lives. Particular attention is paid to the interplay of the virtues, including their interplay with additional (nonmoral) types of values in good lives. More generally, it explores the relevance of memoir to moral philosophy and, in turn, how moral philosophy enters into elucidating and critiquing memoirs.

An accessible one-volume encyclopedia, this addition to the Literary Movements series is a comprehensive reference guide to the history and development of feminist literature, from early fairy tales to works by great women writers of today. Hundred

Writing the Heavenly Frontier celebrates the early voices of the air as it examines the sky as a metaphorical and political landscape. While flight histories usually focus on the physical dangers of early aviation, this book introduces the figurative liabilities of ascension. Early pilot-writers not only grappled with an unwieldy machine; they also grappled with poetics that were extremely selective. Tropes that cast Charles Lindbergh as the transcendent hero of the new millennium were the same ones that kept women, black Americans, and indigenous peoples imaginatively tethered to the ground. The most popular flight autobiographies in the United States posited a hero who rose from the mundane to the miraculous; and yet the most startling autobiographies point out the social factors that limited or forbade vertical movement—both literally and figuratively. A survey of pilot writing, the book will appeal to flight enthusiasts and people interested in American autobiography and culture. But it will also appeal strongly to readers interested in the poetics and politics of place.

Long before sound became an essential part of motion pictures, Westerns were an established genre. The men and women who brought to life cowboys, cowgirls, villains, sidekicks, distressed damsels and outraged townspeople often continued with their film careers, finding success and fame well into the sound era--always knowing that it was in silent Westerns that their careers began. More than a thousand of these once-silent Western players are featured in this fully indexed encyclopedic work. Each entry includes a detailed biography, covering both personal and professional milestones and a complete Western filmography. A foreword is supplied by Diana Serra Cary (formerly the child star "Baby Peggy"), who performed with many of the actors herein.

The dramatic true story of a remarkable woman growing up in Africa in the 1920s: the excitement of big game hunting and horse training, and the first solo flight across the Atlantic from east to west. It's named one of the ten greatest adventure books of all time, as selected by a panel assembled by National Geographic Adventure. The author describes growing up in an Africa that no longer exists, training and breeding race horses, flying mail to Sudan, and being the first woman to fly the Atlantic from east to west

The New York Times bestseller: “Every page is filled with revelations, gossip and fascinating details about Markham.”—Diane Ackerman, The New York Times Book Review Born in England and raised in Kenya, Beryl Markham was a notorious beauty. She trained race horses and had scandalous affairs, but she is most remembered for being a pioneering aviatrix. She became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to make it from London to New York nonstop. In Mary S. Lovell’s definitive biography, Beryl takes on new life—vividly portrayed by a master biographer whose knowledge of her subject is unparalleled.

Vols. 1-69 include more or less complete patent reports of the U. S. Patent Office for years 1825-1859. cf. Index to v. 1-120 of the Journal, p. [415]

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The ultimate book for book lovers: the 1,000 must-read books across genres and eras, each accompanied by a thought-provoking short essay on why the book is so essential.