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A review by lajacquerie
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
5.0
This story, this book, is pretty freaking phenomenal. And Wolfe's prose makes it jump off the page, even if some of his lingo is so idiosyncratic that I think there'll be passages in the next decade that might not be intelligible to new readers. For now, it does its job of pulling you right back into the 1950s/60s when all of this was happening. "The Right Stuff" dances the finest of lines by putting the personal/historical/technical/scientific, AND political context for the first American space program in a way that keeps you wholly engaged.
It was eye-opening for the time, for information to how test pilot and early astronaut programs ran, and for making me think about how impactful the overall political context and social perception can be for major projects like this. Not quite life-changing, but impossible to put down. I also had a few worries about Wolfe perhaps adding in the color commentary based on his own perceptions, but still highly enjoyable the whole way through.
It was eye-opening for the time, for information to how test pilot and early astronaut programs ran, and for making me think about how impactful the overall political context and social perception can be for major projects like this. Not quite life-changing, but impossible to put down. I also had a few worries about Wolfe perhaps adding in the color commentary based on his own perceptions, but still highly enjoyable the whole way through.