Globe Pequot / Lyons Press
Pages: 320
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-4930-2287-8 • Hardback • September 2016 • $29.95 • (£19.95)
978-1-4930-2288-5 • eBook • September 2016 • $28.50 • (£18.95)
Nelson W. Aldrich, Jr. is a writer and editor who currently lives in Boston. He was for a time the Paris editor of The Paris Review, and has published articles on a variety of subjects including art, politics, and education in magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s. He is the author of the modern classic, Old Money.
He is a great-grandson of Nelson W. Aldrich, who was instrumental in founding the Federal Reserve banking system in the United States. Coincidentally, Nelson, Jr. attended the same prep school and college as Tommy Hitchcock, although much later: St. Paul’s School and Harvard College.
Nelson Aldrich has done a splendid job of bringing back to life a forgotten American hero, the extraordinary Tommy Hitchcock -- a man of such charisma and magnetism that F. Scott Fitzgerald modeled not one but two of his fictional characters on him. The real Tommy Hitchcock ranks as among the most dashing and vital figures this country has ever produced: World War I aviator, Jazz Age bon vivant, greatest polo player in history, and developer of the P-51 Mustang, the key fighter plane of World War II, at whose controls he perished in 1944. An altogether extraordinary man, to whom this country owes much.
— Christopher Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking and other bestselling novels
In American Hero, Nelson Aldrich Jr. does full justice to the storied life of one of the most fascinating characters in modern American history. At 17, Tommy Hitchcock left school to fly with the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I. In his 20s, he became the most celebrated polo player in the world. But his greatest achievement was helping to insure an Allied victory in World War II by insisting on the adoption of the best fighter plane of the war — the P-51 Mustang. Thanks to Aldrich’s excellent book, this extraordinary man and his action-packed life are finally getting the attention they so richly deserve.
— Lynne Olson, author of the national bestseller Citizens of London
Lieut. Col. Thomas Hitchcock [was] a flying hero of two World Wars and perhaps the greatest polo player ever developed in the United States.
— The New York Times
My father's name has been both a lifetime source of pride and a challenge to live up to. I hope that this Second Edition will re-introduce him to a new generation of Americans.
— Thomas Hitchcock
While this is primarily a book about Thomas Hitchcock's pivotal role in WW's I and II, let's not forget that Tommy was arguably the greatest polo player of the 20th century, dominating the sport from 1920-1940.
— Julian Hipwood, Captain of England Polo, 1971-1991