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A biography is a non-fictional account, at least to the extent possible in this fallen world, of a person’s life by an author. An autobiography is the same thing except that the author is the person whose life is being presented. It is interesting to compare the pros and cons of the two. A biography, since it is written by a different person, is unaffected by the subject’s personal biases. However, the subject is usually dead, so that the author can only go on written sources and sometimes personal accounts from people who knew their subject. An autobiography, being written by oneself about oneself, has the advantage of inside knowledge, especially in special areas but can be biased by trying to present the unfavorable incidents of one’s life in a more favorable manner. Both a biography and an autobiography can be written competently but in an uninteresting way or can be written to bring out the fascination of the subject’s life.
Edward Rickenbacker was a fascinating man, who lived an extremely adventurous life. He wrote Rickenbacker: An Autobiography in a clear, vivid style that makes its 500 pages hard to put down. In fact, it takes this many pages (with many pictures) to fully describe the life of this American hero. He was an early race car driver, the top American fighter pilot ace (Captain Eddie had 26 victories) in World War I, and the president of Eastern Airlines, one of the early successful commercial airlines. In World War II, he traveled extensively for the government to inspect air bases throughout the Pacific Theater. After one crash during this time, he and his crew survived 24 days in rubber rafts until they were rescued. The survival of these men was in a large part due to the force of Rickenbacker’s leadership. The many famous and history-making Americans that he met and with whom he interacted are described in Rickenbacker’s autobiography. But through it all, his innate humility shines and adds to the readability of the book. Rickenbacker: An Autobiography is easy to read and could be enjoyed by anyone from middle school and older.