The Right Stuff

Author: Tom Wolfe
Publisher: Picador; 2 edition (March 4, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0312427565
Lexile Measure: 1110L
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
Tom Wolfe’s vividly-written account of the beginnings of the U.S. space program tells the story of the early astronauts and their canonization by an adoring public.  For an excellent book summary in the author’s own voice, see Tom Wolfe’s website, tomwolfe.com.

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Language:
Language in The Right Stuff is mild by today’s standards. Profanity, infrequently used, includes:

• Oh my God
  
• g*dd*mn
  
• sonofab*tch
  
• *ss
  
• h*ll
  
• p*ckerwood
  
• b*stard
  
• sh*t
  
• f*ck
  
• d*mn
  
• cr*p
  

Drug and Alcohol Use:
The pilots and astronauts featured conducted their lives in an atmosphere (pardon the pun) inundated with machismo.  They smoke and drank hard and often.  (See, pp. 25, 27, 39, 40-41).


Violence and Crime:
This book contains little in the way of violence.

• There are some vivid descriptions of plane crashes (see, for example, pp. 3, 5, 9, 12).
  
• The pilots also get in occasional fistfights.
  

Sexual Content:
This book, with its vivid description of the macho pilot atmosphere, contains numerous, non-graphic references to the pilots’ amorous conquests.

• See, for example, pp. 49-51, 131-133, 134-135.
  
• Additionally, its descriptions of pilot training and vetting includes the requirement that they ejaculate into test tubes and undergo prostate exams.  See, pp. 70-72.  
  

Other:

• The early space program used animals as test subjects and the book describes the training (desensitization) the animals underwent, including electric shocks to the soles of their feet.  See, for example, pp. 241-245.
  
• The book also discusses affirmative action as implemented by the space program.  
  

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Other Helpful Reviews:

• New York Times
  
• Good Reads
  
• The Guardian