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The Right Stuff [Paperback]

Tom Wolfe (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: Oct 2001
When the future began...

The men had it. Yeager. Conrad. Grissom. Glenn. Heroes ... the first Americans in space ... battling the Russians for control of the heavens ... putting their lives on the line.

The women had it. While Mr. Wonderful was aloft, it tore your heart out that the Hero's Wife, down on the ground, had to perform with the whole world watching ... the TV Press Conference: "What's in your heart? Do you feel with him while he's in orbit?"

The Right Stuff. It's the quality beyond bravery, beyond courage. It's men like Chuck Yeager, the greatest test pilot of all and the fastest man on earth. Pete Conrad, who almost laughed himself out of the running. Gus Grissom, who almost lost it when his capsule sank. John Glenn, the only space traveler whose apple-pie image wasn't a lie.

Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books; Reprint edition (Oct 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553381350
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553381351
  • Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 408,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

Tom Wolfe began The Right Stuff 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. "The Right Stuff," 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."

Wolfe's roots in New Journalism were intertwined with the nonfiction novel that Truman Capote had pioneered with In Cold Blood. 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.

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 The Right Stuff is the best, the funniest, and the most vivid book ever written about America's manned space program. --Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An exhilarating flight into fear, love, beauty and fiery death ... magnificent."
-- "People
"It is Tom Wolfe at his very best ... technically accurate, learned, cheeky, risky, touching, tough, compassionate, nostalgic, worshipful, jingoistic -- The Right Stuff is superb."
-- "The New York Times Book Review
"Breathtaking ... epic ... There are images and ideas in The Right Stuff that glisten like a rocket screaming to the heavens."
-- "Los Angeles Times
"Romantic and thrilling ... One of the most romantic and thrilling books ever written about men who put themselves in peril."
-- "The Boston Globe
"It's magic ... the best book I have read in the last ten years."
-- "Chicago Tribune
Also by Tom Wolfe:
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
From Bauhaus to Our House
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby
The Painted Word
The Right Stuff
Mauve Gloves & Madmen
Clutter & Vine
In Our Time
The Pumphouse Gang
Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers
Available wherever Bantam Books are sold --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The most wonderful stuff 23 Jan 2006
By 100wordreviewer
Format:Paperback
Tom Wolfe is an outstanding writer, and this book shows him at his best. Wolfe recounts the careers of the first US astronauts, from their early hell-raising lives as test pilots to the first space flights and beyond, in exquisite, entertaining prose. His descriptions, whether of a crashed pilot "burned beyond recognition", or the minute-by-minute experience of the first astronauts in the Mercury programme, are mesmerising. Perhaps his greatest achievement is to describe the astronauts (eg the Peugeot-driving John Glenn) both as heroic, larger-than-life figures and as real, believable human beings.

Summary: an extraordinary book.

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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The return of the hero 16 July 2004
By rp
Format:Paperback
When I was at university (a couple of years ago) I had a few 'truths' drummed into me. All in a subtle, needling were-not-telling-you-what-to-think-but-this-is-what-you-have-to-think type of way. First, genius doesn't exist. Second, there are no absolute 'truths' (hence the stupid speechmarks that crop up around every other word these days). Third, the Hero was dead.
I was taught that the Hero (as a concept/character type/role model) didn't apply to us these days. It was a macho construction, or something.
The Right Stuff brought back the notion of heroism - that fantastic, boy's own, Indiana Jones, Spiderman, stick the poster on your wall type of heroism that takes you back to your childhood.
And why not? Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepheard, John Glenn. The things these men went through to break the sound-barrier, to get man into space were astounding. They risked their lives every time they got into their aircraft, yet they were cool as snowmen.
Tom Wolfe brings the danger, the adrenaline, the burnt-to-a -cinder plane crashes to life in wonderfully sympathetic, excited, yet brilliantly crafted style.
This is the best of Tom Wolfe's books. Partly, I think, because he actually respected/admired his subject this time around.
I absolutely loved this book. It was so nice to read a romantic book about recent history, rather than the cynical political stuff you get spoonfed at University.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A bit too folksy for my taste. 3 Jun 2010
By Blencathra
Format:Paperback
Wolfe focuses on the culture and social mores that surrounded the Mercury space programme. He is excellent at developing the characters so that they come vividly to life. There are times when I wondered how real the characters were - they almost fitted Wolfe's angle on the story too well which left me asking how closely Wolfe's perspective matched those of others. But Wolfe does tell the story really well. Except that, after a while, I got rather weary of the folksy, chatty style, in particular when recounting some of the key incidents, when very specific perspectives were taken, thus leaving me with more questions than answers.

I can understand why it is generally regarded as a classic, and why so many people rate it so highly, but it just didn't quite work for me. I'm glad to have read it, but won't be rushing back to it in the future (I actually preferred the film - not a common occurrence).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Great historical saga of early space endevour
This book furnished me with many answers to how and why the US space program fumbled its way forward in its early days. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Roy L Whitechurch
5.0 out of 5 stars The Dawn of the Space Age.
"The Right Stuff" brings the dawn of the space age to the broadest of audiences. Written in a sharp, entertaining style, Wolfe combines the science and the drama of the Mercury... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Owen Zupp
3.0 out of 5 stars Hokey
Never mind the quality, just feel the testosterone. I'm kind of fascinated by the whole, mad race for the stars in the fifties and sixties. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Frootle
5.0 out of 5 stars Rarely do I spend my money so well
Rarely do I spend my money so well. 'The Right Stuff' is easily worth ten times the amount I paid for it, both in terms of its informative value, as well as in the level of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lukasz Golowanow
5.0 out of 5 stars A flying experience
Tom Wolfe at his best! The work put into writing a book like this is immense, I think Wolfe used six years. It shows. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Hans Chr Erlandsen
2.0 out of 5 stars where's the wit?
Supposedly, this is America's premier satirist penning one of his most celebrated books. But this book's as tame as a space dog on sedatives. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ray Willmott
5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime
A truly wonderful account of the early US space
adventure and the spirit of it's participants (&
some of those unfairly left behind). Read more
Published on 24 May 2011 by DrTris
3.0 out of 5 stars Impressionistic, with little analysis or insight into the period
You carry your expectations to a book, and this one was a disappointment to me. This book, in my view, offers a sophisticated version of hero worship. Read more
Published on 7 May 2011 by rob crawford
4.0 out of 5 stars The Right Stuff
'The Right Stuff' was written in 1979, and at that time, appears to have broken new ground by its modern style, and astute analysis of the USA's slow comeback from the Sputnik... Read more
Published on 13 April 2011 by Christian Wendt
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favourites
The Right Stuff is one of my all time favourite books. In my opinion, you won't find a better written account of the space race. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2011 by Al Ussher
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