Overview

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 education, 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.Cooke's intimate storytelling weaves together the real-life stories of a memorable cast of characters, from small-town girl 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 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, 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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9781799969198

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Reviews

"""After a year of severe restrictions on travel...[Julia Cooke's] book looking back at the height of the jet age offers more than one delicious flavor of escapism...a front-row view of history.--The Washington Post ""In the 1960s and 70s, Pan Am stewardesses changed a sexualized job requiring weigh-ins and retirement at 26 into a forum for serious work. They became ambassadors, transported traumatized soldiers, rescued Vietnamese children in Operation Babylift. A fascinating history of a bygone era.""--People Magazine ""This engrossing account, which reads like a novel, offers a combination of riveting personal stories and little-known history, and will draw in readers from the first page. A must-read.-- ""STARRED, Library Journal ""An entertaining, insightful look into a gritty and glamorous era in air travel."" ""Come Fly the World is a pop passport to another time. Take a social history flight with the women of Pan Am."" -- ""Lily Koppel, New York Times bestselling author"" ""[This] limber, well-researched...account of Pan Am World Airways in its glory days is smoothly interwoven with the engagingly complex stories of several longtime flight attendants....An entertaining, insightful look into a gritty and glamorous era in air travel."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"""

""Come Fly the World is a pop passport to another time. Take a social history flight with the women of Pan Am."" -- ""Lily Koppel, New York Times bestselling author"" ""[This] limber, well-researched...account of Pan Am World Airways in its glory days is smoothly interwoven with the engagingly complex stories of several longtime flight attendants....An entertaining, insightful look into a gritty and glamorous era in air travel."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)""

[This] limber, well-researched...account of Pan Am World Airways in its glory days is smoothly interwoven with the engagingly complex stories of several longtime flight attendants....An entertaining, insightful look into a gritty and glamorous era in air travel. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Come Fly the World is a pop passport to another time. Take a social history flight with the women of Pan Am. -- Lily Koppel, New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

JULIA COOKE is a journalist and travel writer whose features and personal essays have been published in Time, Smithsonian, Condé Nast Traveler, and Saveur. She is the author of The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba. The daughter of a former Pan Am executive, Cooke grew up in the Pan Am ""family,"" a still-strong network across the globe. She lives in Vermont. Andi Arndt arrived at her career in audiobook narration after hosting public radio programs and teaching acting and voice/speech at James Madison University. A classically trained actress with an ear for languages and dialects, Andi has studied Spanish, Dutch, Italian, French, and Chinese (Mandarin). AudioFile magazine says that ""her energy and charm will draw listeners into [the] story and keep them thoroughly engaged during the whole emotional journey.""

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