Of Flight and Life.

LINDBERGH, Charles A.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 144537

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons , 1948.

First edition of this prophetic discourse on weapons of mass destruction. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the half-title page, “To Dean Walter Bartky with affection, and best wishes from Charles A. Lindbergh August 1948.” The recipient, Walter Bartky was an American educator and mathematician and friend of the Lindberghs. After receiving a Ph.D. from the university, he served on its faculty in the astronomy department. In 1943 he became associate dean of the University of Chicago’s Division of Physical Sciences. During the Manhattan Project, Bartky served as the Metallurgical Laboratory’s associate director. Bartky was a signatory of the Szilard Petition. In 1945, he accompanied Leo Szilard and Harold Urey to present a memorandum to future Secretary of State James F. Byrnes that warned of the dangers of a nuclear arms race. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. An excellent association.

In this Cold War-era essay, Lindbergh warns about the dangers of the Soviet Union and uncontrolled scientific advances without a moral compass acting as a guide. Of Flight and Life "sums up Lindbergh's concerns about the unchecked spread of scientific materialism and his fear that Americans were caught in a vicious circle in which our security today demanded regimentation and the development of weapons that would ruin us tomorrow" (Robert Wohl).