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AuthorsLive: The Aviator and the Showman by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Greenwich Library welcomes Laurie Gwen Shapiro for a discussion of her new book, The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon, revealing the untold story of Amelia Earhart’s decade-long marriage to George Putnam (the “P.T. Barnum of publishing”), who pressed Amelia into daring, often dangerous stunts to promote her image and books, influencing a certain recklessness up to and including her final flight. 

Earhart is a captivating figure to many, but the truth about her life is often overshadowed by myth and legend. Despite her outwardly modest image, Amelia was a fiercely driven and impossibly brave trailblazer. With a trove of new sources, including undiscovered audio interviews from those closest to Amelia, Shapiro presents her as a multifaceted woman—complete with flaws, desires, and competitive drive. 

The Aviator and the Showman is a gripping and passionate tale of adventure, colorful characters, and hubris, painting a vivid portrait of a marriage that shaped the trajectory of an iconic life. Copies will be available for purchase and signing with thanks to Diane's Books of Greenwich.

Date:
Monday, November 10, 2025
Time:
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:
Marx Family Black Box Theater
Audience:
  Adult  
Categories:
  Author Talk  

Registration is required. There are no seats available but a waiting list is available.

LAURIE GWEN SHAPIRO is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, New York, The Daily Beast, Lapham’s Quarterly, Slate, Aeon, The Forward, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her documentary honors include an Independent Spirit Award for directing IFC’s Keep the River on Your Right and an Emmy nomination for HBO’s Finishing Heaven. Shapiro is the 2021 winner of the GANYC Apple Award for Best NYC Essay or Article, the 2021 Damn History Award recipient for “The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes” (The New Yorker) and gold medallion winner in the People Profiles category for the Silurian Press Club’s 77th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Her bestselling first full-length work of nonfiction, The Stowaway (Simon & Schuster) was an Indie Next selection. Her newest book, The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam and the Marriage that Made an American Icon (Viking), has been excerpted in The New Yorker and named a Best Book of Summer by CBS Sunday Morning. Shapiro is also an adjunct professor of journalism in the graduate program at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.