LINDBERGH

In a century of obsession with celebrities, aviator Charles Lindbergh was one of the first to be mercilessly dogged by the media and the public. A. Scott Berg's sym-pathetic biography is marvelously written, having benefited from access to Lindbergh's papers and surviving family. Eric Stoltz seems an unlikely reader for this title, but he performs well, with a straight-up reading that doesn't attempt to mimic voices and accents. The abridgment (perhaps a third of the 600-page book) does leave several gaps and loose ends; most notable is the lack of any space given to the conspiracy theories that surround the murder of Lindbergh's baby son in 1932. What remains, however, is a compelling portrait of a complex and often misunderstood man. D.B. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 99]