America’s Girl: The Incredible True Story of How Swimmer Gertrude Ederle Changed the Nation

by: Tim Dahlberg, Mary Ederle Ward, and Brenda Greene

Published by: St. Martin's Press

Reviewed by Sara Porter

Gertrude Ederle was the type of person that someone may have made a feel-good film about: a plucky hero facing great obstacles and adversity to rise to the top of the athletic world. So far the celluloid world hasn’t called, but Dahlberg, Ederle Ward, and Greene have captured the life of this determined woman who in 1926 became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

This book marvelously captures Ederle’s tomboyish independent spirit especially in her early cross-country training under an overbearing coach who pushes Ederle too hard, and gives her brandy which she objects to, and forces her to try strokes that exhausts her. No surprises that in her first try to swim the English Channel in 1925 she fails, and after that attempt she vows to swim her way and in her style.

The life of swimmers in the 1920s is captured in all of the details from the hideous swimming uniforms that the censors forced swimmers to wear (leading to Ederle assisting in creating the two-piece suit) to the criticisms that women received when they tried to break into sports, then only a men’s field.

Ederle’s participation in the 1924 Olympics is particularly interesting. The chapters go into details about the swimming clubs, the training, and particularly the camaraderie between the swimmers, particularly Ederle and her fellow swimmers, including future Tarzan star, Johnny Weissmuller.
The chapters dealing with the Channel swim are memorable and descriptive as Ederle deals with the dirty cold water, the waves that pulled on her and her own nerves as she reached the English shore to break the record. Also, the aftermath of her swim in which she reaches exhilarating fame from a fawning public–only to have them abandon her for another hero–is well written and seen often in celebrities before and since.

Armchair Interviews says: A well-written story of an important feat by this interesting woman.