false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg 586472 25 Tom Wolfe began <I>The Right Stuff</I> at a time when it was unfashionable to contemplate American heroism. Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, the nation was reeling from the catastrophe of Vietnam, and in 1979--the year the book appeared--Americans were being held hostage by Iranian militants. Yet it was exactly the anachronistic courage of his subjects that captivated Wolfe. In his foreword, he notes that as late as 1970, almost one in four career Navy pilots died in accidents. "<I>The Right Stuff</I>," he explains, "became a story of why men were willing--willing?--delighted!--to take on such odds in this, an era literary people had long since characterized as the age of the anti-hero." <p> Wolfe's roots in New Journalism were intertwined with the nonfiction novel that Truman Capote had pioneered with <I>In Cold Blood</I>. As Capote did, Wolfe tells his story from a limited omniscient perspective, dropping into the lives of his "characters" as each in turn becomes a major player in the space program. After an opening chapter on the terror of being a test pilot's wife, the story cuts back to the late 1940s, when Americans were first attempting to break the sound barrier. Test pilots, we discover, are people who live fast lives with dangerous machines, not all of them airborne. Chuck Yeager was certainly among the fastest, and his determination to push through Mach 1--a feat that some had predicted would cause the destruction of any aircraft--makes him the book's guiding spirit.<p> Yet soon the focus shifts to the seven initial astronauts. Wolfe traces Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and Gus Grissom's embarrassing panic on the high seas (making the controversial claim that Grissom flooded his Liberty capsule by blowing the escape hatch too soon). The author also produces an admiring portrait of John Glenn's apple-pie heroism and selfless dedication. By the time Wolfe concludes with a return to Yeager and his late-career exploits, the narrative's epic proportions and literary merits are secure. Certainly <I>The Right Stuff</I> is the best, the funniest, and the most vivid book ever written about America's manned space program. <I>--Patrick O'Kelley</I> 907221 1979 The Right Stuff total:2396|5:894|4:989|3:447|2:51|1:15| 2396 9884 3106 221 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 2 false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 12:38:30 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 12:47:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 2 false Tue Jul 31 03:28:55 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 22 17:03:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 5 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jun 22 19:57:43 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 20:11:06 -0700 2007 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 1 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 12:48:39 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 07 12:07:47 -0700 2007 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 3 0 false Mon Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 02 18:25:20 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 18:25:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 17:46:31 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 17:57:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 1 false Tue Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 16:12:33 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 08:26:50 -0800 2009 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 3 1 false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 11:23:15 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 11:27:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 5 0 false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 05:49:35 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 01:57:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 922197 0374250324 9780374250324 20 2 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179487169m/922197.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/922197.The_Right_Stuff 5 0 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Fri Jul 17 06:59:30 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 06:24:07 -0700 2009
Yet, before there was Apollo 11, before there were even the Gemini space missions, there were the original Mercury seven astronauts: Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpente...more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 1 1 false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 12:32:18 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 12:37:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 5 1 false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Jan 08 15:50:12 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 15:53:59 -0800 2008 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Thu Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 15:57:59 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 11:14:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 3 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 21 15:47:43 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 15:55:26 -0700 2009
Being from Houston, I particularly...more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 5 0 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 08:14:33 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 08:40:01 -0700 2009
The book is best summed up b...more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Thu Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 06:58:07 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 10:04:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 18:32:07 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 17:25:31 -0800 2009 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 23 16:01:04 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 04:06:22 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 3 0 false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 00:01:10 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 17 16:20:37 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 586472 0553381350 9780553381351 2096 185 4.13 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176047563m/586472.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586472.The_Right_Stuff 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 16 18:06:01 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 17:41:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=586472