14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
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Above the Atlantic, cloud and fog close around a seaplane with little fuel to spare if anything goes wrong.
In 20 Hrs., 40 Min., Amelia Earhart tells her own story of crossing the Atlantic aboard Friendship. A Boston social worker and trained pilot, she joins a three-person crew bound from Newfoundland to Wales. She is a passenger, not the pilot, and makes that distinction plain.
The adventure begins with an unexpected telephone call and moves toward a fishing harbor where weather controls every plan. Earhart takes you through the waiting and the hours above cloud and sea. Alongside the journey, she explores the freedom of flying and the skill it demands in an age of danger.
What you’ll discover
- An unexpected chance Follow the telephone call that draws a Boston social worker toward an Atlantic crossing.
- A passenger's honest account Meet a trained pilot who clearly states her role aboard Friendship without claiming the controls.
- Weather sets the pace Share the long wait in Newfoundland, where the crew cannot simply choose its moment.
- Cloud, fog, and ocean Enter the uncertain hours over the Atlantic, with fuel depending on everything going right.
- Freedom that demands skill Discover why Earhart loves flying for its own sake, beyond the attention surrounding her crossing.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like true adventure told in a lively first-person voice, early aviation, women who broke new ground, or the story of how a famous journey was flown.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An unexpected invitation opens the sky
- A moving childhood prepares her
- Watching planes becomes wanting to fly
- Flying means preparing for trouble
- She accepts risk without claiming credit
- Preparation includes knowing when to wait
- Delay tests the crew’s spirits
- Judgment matters when contact fails
- Her voice keeps the flight human
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20 Hrs., 40 Min.
by Amelia Earhart · 1928
A social worker takes a phone call at a Boston settlement house and soon flies the Atlantic with two men.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows: one of them rolls.”
In short
What would you do if a stranger phoned you at work and asked whether you would like to try something aeronautical that might be hazardous? In April 1928, Amelia Earhart was running games for children at Denison House, a Boston settlement center, when that call came.
20 Hrs., 40 Min. at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 20 min1 h 50 min fast, 2 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 33,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1928by Amelia Earhart
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A restless childhood leads to war work
Earhart opens with a joke about stones. There are two kinds, she says, and one of them rolls. Because her father worked for the railroad, she rolled. It took six high schools to finish a four-year course.
She sees the upside. Moving often teaches you to treat new people and new places as adventures. That habit of welcoming change runs through the whole book.
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Details
- First published
- 1928
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Earhart, Amelia. 20 Hrs., 40 Min.. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/20-hrs-40-min.
Earhart, A. (2026). 20 hrs., 40 min.. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/20-hrs-40-min (Original work published 1928)
Earhart, Amelia. 20 Hrs., 40 Min.. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/20-hrs-40-min.
@book{earhart202620,
author = {Earhart, Amelia},
title = {20 Hrs., 40 Min.},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/20-hrs-40-min},
note = {First published 1928}
}
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What is 20 Hrs., 40 Min. about?
It is Amelia Earhart's own account of the 1928 flight of the Friendship, the first transatlantic flight carrying a woman, with her logbook, her earlier flying career, and her thoughts on aviation and women.
Did Amelia Earhart fly the plane on the Friendship flight?
She says plainly that she was a passenger and logkeeper. Wilmer Stultz was the pilot and Slim Gordon the mechanic. She gives them the credit, though her flying experience helped her get chosen.
Who owned the Friendship and paid for the flight?
Mrs. Frederick Guest, formerly Amy Phipps of Pittsburgh, bought the Fokker from Commander Byrd and financed the whole trip. She gave up the flight herself but wanted an American woman to go.
The author
Amelia Earhart
1897–1939 · American aviator and author
Amelia Earhart was an American aviator and author born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. She wrote 20 Hrs., 40 Min. in 1928 and The Fun of It in 1932. She lived in the United States and disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. She was declared legally dead in 1939.
“There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows: one of them rolls.”
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