Friday, August 24, 2012

Top 10 books on heroes

Don Mullan is the author of Eyewitness Bloody Sunday, a book critical in reopening the British government's inquiry (over 25 years later) into what became known as Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was January 30, 1972, a day when thirteen civilians were killed by British soldiers during a civil rights march in North Ireland.

Paul Greengrass, perhaps better known to Americans as the director of The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and United 93 (2006), made a film (co-produced by Mullan) titled Bloody Sunday (2002) about those events.

In 2006 Mullan named his top ten books on heroes for The Guardian, including:
Amelia Earhart: The Sky's No Limit by Lori Van Pelt

On my first visit to the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, I rushed past the 1903 'Wright Flyer' and Lindburgh's 'The Spirit of St. Louis' to a small, red, single-engine Lockheed Vega which my father, as a boy in 1932, had watched land in our hometown of Derry to make history. Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo, piloted it. My father glimpsed her through the crowds who thronged to see her. It was emotional standing beside the actual aircraft he had seen as a boy. His stories ignited within me a love affair with America's Lady Lindy who disappeared without trace in the south Pacific on July 2 1937. Van Pelt's biography reignited my admiration for a fearless pioneer who not only broke barriers and pushed back frontiers but also helped spearhead commercial aviation and the advancement of woman.
Read about another book on Mullan's list.

--Marshal Zeringue