Come Fly the World

Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
By Julia Cooke
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.  266 pages.  Nonfiction

Required to have a college education, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on 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. Cooke weaves together the real-life stories of stewardesses as they embraced the liberation of their new jet-set life. She brings to light 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, as well as Operation Babylift, the dramatic evacuation of 2,000 children during the fall of Saigon.

This is a compelling examination of this time period through the eyes of Pan Am stewardesses.  They were definitely unique women in this time, prioritizing careers and professional accomplishment at a time when women were frequently discouraged from both.  But the changes in the workforce for women, the impacts of broader socio-cultural changes, and events occurring on the international stage are intertwined with the fates of the stewardesses, as they both reflected and impacted the world around them.

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. 338 pages. Nonfiction

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Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight
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The mostly-unknown tale of Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb--two accomplished aviatrixes, one generation apart, who each dreamed of being the first woman in space, but along the way battled their egos, their expectations, and ultimately the patriarchal society that stood between them and the stars.

BHG