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Reading The Right Stuff in 2009, is a reminder that America once extolled the virtue of real accomplishment, of being chosen from the select few, and from the select few proving to have the right stuff. In a way that is almost hard for us today to imagine, these pilots not for monetary gain, risked their lives for their country and for the prestige of being called a true brother among pilots.
Instead Wolfe has written a book about the rare breed of men that have the necessary ice water coursing through their veins to fly the experimental fighter jets, and to sit on the tips of rockets. This isn't a book about the science and bureaucracy of aviation in the 50s and 60's, but instead a study of the psyche of the pilot.
I picked up The Right Stuff, expecting to read a detailed history of the US space program; from the breaking of the sound barrier to the Moon landing. It harkens back to a time when America could accomplish what was thought unthinkable, by the sheer determination and true patriotism of its people.
This is a fast past paced narrative which portrays the pilot of the cold war as a near mythical figure - an American David to the Soviet Goliath. In doing so Wolfe also examines the psyche of the American people during this time, and provides an interesting commentary on society.
Society today has a strange way of making celebrities out of the nobodies and the untalented.
It over-states and hypes up the danger and the thrill-seeking, without paying enough attention to the technical expertise and scientific knowledge required of test pilots and astronauts. However, I am sorry to say that it is not very well written. This book covers a fascinating period in America's history, and the fascinating handful of men who became America's first astronauts. Tom Wolfe does no justice to the space program, to test pilots, or to astronauts, in this over-hyped, under-accurate book. In many cases it is factually inaccurate, and if you know anything about flying or the space program, than certain mistakes or misconceptions become glaringly obvious as you read this book. Furthermore, the book is just plain too sensational. If you want the real story of NASA, read about it from someone who was in the program, or at least from someone who is going to take the time to research their facts and write a good book. Several other authors - Michael Collins, Chuck Yeager, and others, wrote much more enjoyable, much more accurate, and much more meaningful contributions to the history of the space program and the test pilots of the 60's.
Plus, as a child at the tail-end of the cold war, I grew up with a natural distrust of the Russians. From the first lines of this book, I was hooked. The Right Stuff blends the history of the beginnings of the Mercury program while combining a healthy dose of patriotism; and it does all this in with such a conversational tone that I almost felt that I was listening to stories from my grandpa. Tom Wolfe has such an easy way of bringing to life such an amazing time in American history. I have always considered the Mercury-Apollo missions the pinnacle of American space flight. Lately this has been the non-fiction book that I recommend to most and I don't hesitate recommending it to anyone. Don't miss this one.
I've owned "The Right Stuff" for over thirty years in print form. I downloaded the Kindle version from Amazon to take with me on business trips.To my disgust, the Kindle edition is abysmal - clearly, Amazon or whoever came up with it ran the print edition through a character-recognition software program and utterly failed to copy-edit it afterwards. The number of errors is alarming, and it is only because I've read the print version so many times that I was able to recognize what some of the errors meant in the text.It's a shame, because this book is a fine, fine book and one of my all-time favorites. Shame on Amazon or the publisher or both for charging $10.00 for a flawed, poorly-edited copy.
In a time when our heroes are overpaid athletes and overexposed celebrities (who cares about Brad and Angelina ). I woke up this morning thinking about this book and the wonderful movie that followed. Being true to my instincts I will now read it again for the first time in 20 years. it is high time we got our priorities straight and remember who our "idols" really are. Many of them are right here in this book.
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