- Hardcover: 300 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Company; First Edition edition (Nov 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380976897
- ISBN-13: 978-0380976898
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,944,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
From the Publisher
"A compelling portrait of a quiet hero . . ."
Reviewers are praising Theodore Taylor's Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown. Booklist calls this biography of America's first African-American Naval aviator "A compelling portrait of a quiet hero, of the racial climate between 1926 and 1950, and of the last days of propeller-driven naval aviation" (October 15, 1998). Publisher's Weekly calls The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown "an engaging and intimate glimpse of a young pioneer who desperately wanted to earn his aviator's wing." (October 12, 1998). PW also notes, "Taylor based much of his research on interviews with those who knew Brown and on personal letters from more than a half-century ago. He doesn't skimp on the indignities Brown suffered." Although The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown is a work of non-fiction, unlike the award-winning novels for young readers for which Taylor is perhaps best known (The Cay, The Bomb), this book features Taylor's usual combination of passionate thematic advocacy and gripping story telling.
Reviewers are praising Theodore Taylor's Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown. Booklist calls this biography of America's first African-American Naval aviator "A compelling portrait of a quiet hero, of the racial climate between 1926 and 1950, and of the last days of propeller-driven naval aviation" (October 15, 1998). Publisher's Weekly calls The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown "an engaging and intimate glimpse of a young pioneer who desperately wanted to earn his aviator's wing." (October 12, 1998). PW also notes, "Taylor based much of his research on interviews with those who knew Brown and on personal letters from more than a half-century ago. He doesn't skimp on the indignities Brown suffered." Although The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown is a work of non-fiction, unlike the award-winning novels for young readers for which Taylor is perhaps best known (The Cay, The Bomb), this book features Taylor's usual combination of passionate thematic advocacy and gripping story telling.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As the widow of Ensign Jesse Brown, the U.S. Navy's first black pilot, I have been hoping and dreaming for 48 years that the story of his life would be told. At last, "The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown," by Theodore Taylor, an Avon Book, is on the shelves around the country. Impoverished, son of a Mississippi sharecropper, Jesse never knew the luxury of running water, electricity or an indoor toilet. But he fell in love with aviation as a child, pausing to look up from his cotton hoe at passing planes to say, "That's where I want to be." Advised to enter a Negro college, at 17 he enrolled in Ohio State (99 percent white) as a personal challenge and was told by an ROTC instructor that "no nigger would ever sit his ass in a Navy cockpit." Jesse proved him wrong and became a carrier pilot, a daily up-hill struggle over his complexion throughout almost two years of training. Against all regulations, knowing he could be kicked out, Jesse married me in October, 1947, simply because he "needed me." We were deeply in love. There were about 600 cadets at Pensacola and his was the only black face. The pressures were overwhelming. He'd fought racism all his life. He hid me in town. We saw each other occasionally, and a year later we were blessed with Pamela. Jesse was killed in combat over North Korea in December 1950. From time to time writers contacted me and Jesse's brothers wanting to tell the story but none were qualified until Navy veteran Ted Taylor came along. We worked closely with him for more than a year. I and my family are very proud of "The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown," a dream come true.
Format:Hardcover
Few people have ever heard of black aviator, Jesse Leroy Brown, except for a line here or there in a rare history book. While I like a biography to have footnotes, this book is one that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Taylor tells the story through letters, retellings of conversations Brown had with friends and relatives, and he even makes up a few. While that in itself would be outrageous, by giving Brown a "voice", we get to feel his pain, fear, joys, hopes and loves as we journey with him from his childhood to his untimely death. As a black woman, I know that there are far too few heroes for young people to emulate, Brown is one we can all learn a lesson from. It was this man's quiet determination to do what he knew he could, regardless of the racial discrimination, he would run into, that we learn how to be strong.
Taylor makes you feel as if you are in the cockpit with Brown, or pushing dollies in the freight yard with his vivid descriptions (I have a fear of flying and this book did not cure it). I was most intrigued with Brown's letters, but did find it uncomfortable to read his wife's diary, the one flaw I found in the book.
But a debt of thanks is given to Taylor, because had he not written this full biography of Jesse Leroy Brown I would not have had the honor of meeting this humble man. So if you have someone who loves history, aviation or needs a real black role model (not a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan), put this book on your Christmas or Hanukkah list.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
The thoughts of the widow of Jesse Leroy Brown
28 Oct 1998
Format:Hardcover
As the widow of Ensign Jesse Brown, the U.S. Navy's first black pilot, I have been hoping and dreaming for 48 years that the story of his life would be told. At last, "The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown," by Theodore Taylor, an Avon Book, is on the shelves around the country. Impoverished, son of a Mississippi sharecropper, Jesse never knew the luxury of running water, electricity or an indoor toilet. But he fell in love with aviation as a child, pausing to look up from his cotton hoe at passing planes to say, "That's where I want to be." Advised to enter a Negro college, at 17 he enrolled in Ohio State (99 percent white) as a personal challenge and was told by an ROTC instructor that "no nigger would ever sit his ass in a Navy cockpit." Jesse proved him wrong and became a carrier pilot, a daily up-hill struggle over his complexion throughout almost two years of training. Against all regulations, knowing he could be kicked out, Jesse married me in October, 1947, simply because he "needed me." We were deeply in love. There were about 600 cadets at Pensacola and his was the only black face. The pressures were overwhelming. He'd fought racism all his life. He hid me in town. We saw each other occasionally, and a year later we were blessed with Pamela. Jesse was killed in combat over North Korea in December 1950. From time to time writers contacted me and Jesse's brothers wanting to tell the story but none were qualified until Navy veteran Ted Taylor came along. We worked closely with him for more than a year. I and my family are very proud of "The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown," a dream come true.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Found - Another Forgotten Hero
18 April 2000
Format:Hardcover
The travails of the First Marine Division in its "advance in the opposite direction," at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950 are legendary. Almost unknow to them then, and to millions of Americans now, a lone black naval aviator was giving his best effort to cover their escape. He died in the line of duty doing what he had dreamed of accomplishing all his life. He was Jesse Leroy Brown. Never hear of him? Neither had I until I read his biography written by Theodore Taylor. This story cannot be simply classified as African-American History. History of the American Spirit more aptly describes the chronicle of a young black boy who set his sights high then struggled to hit the target. Readers should be prepared to be uplifted in the same manner that they were when first reading about Davey Crockett, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown or Seargent Alvin York. This is human drama and adventure at its finest.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A real hero for our times.
10 Nov 1998
Format:Hardcover
Few people have ever heard of black aviator, Jesse Leroy Brown, except for a line here or there in a rare history book. While I like a biography to have footnotes, this book is one that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Taylor tells the story through letters, retellings of conversations Brown had with friends and relatives, and he even makes up a few. While that in itself would be outrageous, by giving Brown a "voice", we get to feel his pain, fear, joys, hopes and loves as we journey with him from his childhood to his untimely death. As a black woman, I know that there are far too few heroes for young people to emulate, Brown is one we can all learn a lesson from. It was this man's quiet determination to do what he knew he could, regardless of the racial discrimination, he would run into, that we learn how to be strong.
Taylor makes you feel as if you are in the cockpit with Brown, or pushing dollies in the freight yard with his vivid descriptions (I have a fear of flying and this book did not cure it). I was most intrigued with Brown's letters, but did find it uncomfortable to read his wife's diary, the one flaw I found in the book.
But a debt of thanks is given to Taylor, because had he not written this full biography of Jesse Leroy Brown I would not have had the honor of meeting this humble man. So if you have someone who loves history, aviation or needs a real black role model (not a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan), put this book on your Christmas or Hanukkah list.
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