Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
Julia Cooke
Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men–era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up Required to have a college degree, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also had to be between 5′3" and 5′9", between 105 and 140 pounds, and under 26 years of age at the time of hire. Julia Cooke’s intimate storytelling weaves together the real-life stories of a memorable cast of characters, from Lynne Totten, a science major who decided life in a lab was not for her, to Hazel Bowie, one of the relatively few black stewardesses of the era, as they embraced the liberation of their new jet-set life. Cooke brings to life the story of Pan Am stewardesses’ role in the Vietnam War, as the airline added runs from Saigon to Hong Kong for planeloads of weary young soldiers straight from the battlefields, who were off for five days of R&R, and then flown back to war. Finally, with Operation Babylift—the dramatic evacuation of 2,000 children during the fall of Saigon—the book’s special cast of stewardesses unites to play an extraordinary role on the world stage.
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0As individuals, stewardesses shared an instinct to roam that propelled their personal and professional growth, each woman in her own way. As a group, stewardesses forever shifted the American woman's place in her country and the world.
I've had the book on my TBR for awhile now, and finally decided that right now, several years after I was last on a plane and feeling desperately pent up by a Midwestern winter, would truly be the best time to read this book. And I have to say, it scratched every itch.
I love 60s and 70s culture; the changes in the world and mans place in it during those two decades were unlike any other time in human history. The realizations that took place in the public conscience - that perhaps women are capable of being more than home makers, maybe people of color truly are equal, and it could be possible that America shouldn't be the World's Police Force. All of these are things that we still grapple with today as a society, but we wouldn't be struggling with it now if the people who laid the ground work between 1960 and 1980 hadn't taken those first steps.
This book is written really well; I like the combo of peoples stories and just raw facts. It makes for a really intriguing narrative. The author weaves together facts with experiences, and it makes the book a real pleasure to read.
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