National Book Award Non Fiction Winner
The Right Stuff
by Tom Wolfe
Summary
An exuberant New Journalism account of the test pilots and Mercury Seven astronauts at the dawn of the American space program. Wolfe traces the lineage from Chuck Yeager's sound-barrier flights through Project Mercury, dissecting the unwritten code of nerve and skill that defined the fraternity of fliers. His swaggering prose redefined how nonfiction could capture institutions, masculinity, and Cold War spectacle.
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Historical Context & Significance
Wolfe famously refused to interview the astronauts' wives, focusing instead on the "masculine" psychology and technical bravado of the pilots.