The Right Stuff Summary

Book Review (Tom Wolfe’s, The Right Stuff)

Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Right Stuff,” is a 1979 fascinating non-fiction account of the early days of the U.S. space program. It also describes the men who aided in launching the first manned flights. It is a novel about the people who had “the right stuff” a combination of talent, heroism, athleticism and the bravery who started as test pilots and those who became the famous mercury astronauts. Legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager is one of the primary characters, whose bravery in the space became the epitome of the risky missions done by the pilots. Chuck Yeager continually set the new airspeed as well as altitude records while flying the experimental planes. Wolfe places the events in a precise political

and social framework throughout the work.
What can we learn about post-WWII society, politics, and the technology from reading Wolf’s book?
Typically, the case in this book is mainly related to the space race and most importantly space exploration.

The main idea I for the book involves different political-related reasons that are related to placement of people into space regarding the fact that Mercury astronauts were an enormous burden when it comes to the program and that the main reason for why they are sent up is for different promotion reasons (Wolfe, 2005). Therefore, technology, in this case, affected various aspects that were directly related to the survival of human being in one way or another.

First, the inclusion of human beings in spacecraft was a primary consideration with the first consideration being the use of chimpanzees as the first option for their trial. Typically, the right stuff can be considered as technically and also historically accurate. However, the author has not provided any of his personal opinions in this case. The story connects the development and use of new technologies to improve human lives in one way or another. in this regard, the story related to decisions taken by a group of individuals with a primary aim of making changes in the history.

What did you find most insightful about the

book?
The central insightful aspect regarding the book is its inspirations from the desires to find different ways in which different astronauts accepted the danger that was related to space fights.

Therefore, there were a lot of risks and challenges that pilots, in that case, were taken together with the mental and most importantly physical characteristics and reinforcements required for the jobs they were to be engaged in through their work. Therefore, the author tends to like these astronauts particularly to a single combat warrior from past era who mainly got adorations and honor of their people before their represented them in those fights. These were significant decisions that the group took while they knew the dangers that were related to their choices.

How did the author contribute to your understanding of U.S. history?

The story is a tale related to American heroes. Therefore, it explains more about the story of seven different men who were extraordinary. In this case, they at the end become shining beacons regarding the hope of the space race that America was competing with Russia. In this regard, Russians were always related to being one step ahead. In this case, it represents the level of American history about the actions that these men took when space travel wasn’t a given, and they volunteered to be shot into the space on rockets. At that time, these rockets seemed to blow up at the

end.

Is it a worthwhile book? Why or why not?
Typically, the book is worth not only consideration but also acceptance regarding the history of America and the impacts related to the post-WWII aspects regarding survival and relationship of different nations. It represents past and harsh decisions that a group of individuals took with the aim of making a difference regarding their country’s political and most importantly social aspects. It, therefore, represents the decisions that particular individuals are ready to take with the aim of making the best for other without considering the dangers that await them (Wolfe, 2005). In this regard, it tends to represent particular aspics are required for efficient and changes in a specific condition and most importantly those that are needed to provide the best for other. The book can, therefore, be related to the fact that changes require decisions which strong or sometimes weak.