The Right Stuff

In times of stress when authors are producing crap (yes, that is what many publisher's are putting out there with superb quotes that can not possibly be real) and calling their "work" writing! So far from the truth as to be outside the Milky Way galaxy. My favorite "writer" to call out for this is James Patterson. Tom Wolfe's work is indeed worthy of another go 'round if you do not care for the classics and if you do care for the classics as well. I have read Bonfire so many times that my hardcover has pages falling out. Downloading it to my Kindle was well worth it. Still fascinating and worth the time to read and savor every page. I've read all his books but there is something about our current political climate that makes Bonfire a very fitting read! If you've not read Mr. Wolfe before, may I suggest you start with this book. I doubt you will be disappointed!

I enjoyed this book. However, if you already understand societal dynamics then you won't be very surprised. It's like reading a fictional narrative of something we all learned long ago. And in typical Wolfish fashion white people are the butt of the joke, something that is a bit cliche.

I got a second-hand mass paperback edition, rather than the Kindle version, which reviewers say was shot through with errors. I thought the book was great, making the personalities who created and manned the Mercury program come alive.

I did have a question from the book. Wolfe made no secret of his feeling that the apex of the right stuff quality was to be found in the working test pilots. The astronauts had the right stuff, without question, but had a tough time keeping their edge since flying high-performance aircraft was not part of the astronaut training program.

Wolfe also more than hinted that the manned spaceflight exploration by the X-15 and X-20 experimental models was a lost opportunity when that program was cancelled.

I would have liked to see some informed speculation on whether an aircraft along the lines of the X-20 would be able to transition into orbital spaceflight, or was the X-15 program just a spectacular dead end? Perhaps "The Right Stuff" was not intended to consider such questions, but the book definitely lays out the view that the X-15 was cancelled for political, rather than technical, reasons.

At the beginning of the story, we meet a delusional Sherman McCoy. He believes he's a Master of the Universe because he takes nine-digit orders from clients every other day. Yet McCoy is only a middleman: as his wife explains to their little daughter, "If you pass around enough slices of cake, then pretty soon you have enough crumbs to make a gigantic cake." Besides, his elevation to a presumptive Master of the Universe was accidental: when he started in the bond department, the market was not that hot and his colleagues were known as "Bond Bores". Nor did he have to fight his way into New York high society - thanks to his father, a famous corporate lawyer.

Delusional, not despicable. Yes, Sherman is unfaithful to his wife; but... A professor's daughter, she has always looked down on him "from a wholly fictive elevation" while spending his money on attempts at interior design. To her credit, she does not turn against McCoy when he falls on hard times. She takes their daughter and merely disappears, unlike Sherman's duplicitous mistress.

The gods enlighten Sherman in their usual way, through pain and disgrace. Cured of the ignorance that fed his hubris, the man turns into a fighter - unless I am reading too much into the final scene. No, I don't think I am: this is not merely a story of a man stripped of his innocence - sorry, ignorance. Knowing Wolfe's later work and his affinity for Zola, I can think of The Bonfire as one installment from a never-written McCoy family history. Otherwise, why mention William Sherman McCoy, the protagonist's paternal grandfather, a hick from Knoxville, TN, in the eyes of aristocratic New Yorkers?

I take it as a clue: there's a fighting spirit, a certain stubbornness and stand-your-ground diehardism that run in the family and come out when the youngest McCoy is pushed to the wall. "In well-reared girls and boys, guilt and the instinct to obey the rules are reflexes, ineradicable ghosts in the machine." True, but when Sherman faces a demented crowd, his fear and loathing erase this defeatist deference.

By the way, why would a Southerner be named Sherman? My guess is because Knoxville is different: it's in the east of Tennessee, by the mountains; incidentally, Charlotte Simmons of Wolfe's third novel grew up a little further east, over the border in North Carolina. In 1861, East Tennessee voted to stay in the Union; Republican sympathies were strong; Knoxville was divided; pro-Union local guerrillas burned bridges during the 1861-63 Confederate occupation; the 1st Alabama cavalry regiment which escorted Sherman to the sea was largely Tennessean. So there's "Sherman" - the hard-war general and the hard-war tank - and there's "McCoy", but which of them is the real one? - and there's some obstinate farmer in the background who'd fight the slaveholders both sides of the Blue Ridge.

Really good writing! TW's descriptions of the thinking of the characters has wonderful depth and approaches poetry. Same for his description of things and places. The multi-threaded plot keeps your full attention. Great read.

Wolfe's novelized account of the early days of NASA and Project Mercury is amazing, not just for the breadth of its scope, but for the larger-than-life way he portrays the astronauts, test pilots, and other personalities involved. Wolfe does a spectacular job of capturing the peculiar mindset that compelled men to volunteer - willingly! - to climb aboard an unreliable rocket and cross their fingers. There's a great mix of human drama and technical detail, international politics and individual rivalries, not to mention a lot of humor. It's definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the space program or Cold War history.

I love this book, although it is somewhat dated and I did reflect on how it may have developed if the story had taken place during the cell phones era. A very interesting story of everyman and the continuing class and racial struggle which is timeless.

Absolutely love the movie and after all this time I just finally read the book. It added so much more to what I already knew about this time in our military/NASA history. It also included many details that were not in the movie. I was not alive back then but I believe just about anyone at any age could find this a compelling read. And then see the movie (or vice versa).

First, ignore the first rating in the the store Kindle review. While the Kindle version may well have had problems when first published on Kindle, they have been corrected. That review kept me from reading the Kindle edition of this book for a couple of years. Finally, I decided to try it, and found no mistakes. So, buy it and read it. You will be very happy that you did! I first read this book 30+ years ago and loved it then. Recently, I read The Astronauts Wives Club, another excellent book. This book was the first behind the scenes book to really get the feeling of the brave men (no women astronauts in the Mercury Program), and the test pilots who flew the supersonic jets before them. Prior to this, we basically got the sanitized "official" stories of a group of Boy Scouts. I've read that the Astronauts loved Tom Wolfe's book, but hated the movie. Well, the book is great. I'd also read the Astronauts Wives Club to see the entire story from the wives' point of view.

After I read this book, I could understand some of the thinking of Jordan Belfort's mind from "The Wolf Of Wall Street" as this was one of the books he read! This book "The Bonfire Of The Vanities" definitely brought to light the way politics can influence people to use others for personal gain. This book for me had an unexpected twist at the end. I would recommend this book for people who love to live on the edge.

Awesome but I question how the USA can barely manage shooting a man on little more than a ballistic arc into near space in 1961 yet 8 yrs later they have a team on the moon... I wish TW had written The Right Stuff part 2....

Since I have been watching ABC's Astronaut Wives Club mini series this summer, I thought it would be fun to have some additional background on the space program. I initially thought I would read the book the show is based on, The Astronaut's Wives Club; however, after reading several negative reviews about the editing errors of the book, I decided on The Right Stuff. I will say this book is extremely enlightening and gives great background and facts on the space program. I am just not a huge fan of Wolfe's writing style as some of his catch phrases are too repetitive and can become annoying.

John Lithgow's voice work is OUTSTANDING! His ethnic and cultural accents are perfect. He brings life and spirit to Tom Wolfe's characters. An amazing performance that does justice to a great story. I highly RECOMMENDED it!

John Lithgow's voice work is OUTSTANDING! His ethnic and cultural accents are perfect. He brings life and spirit to Tom Wolfe's characters. An amazing performance that does justice to a great story. I highly RECOMMENDED it!

At the time of publishing, besides the official NASA press releases there was very little information available to the public about the early US astronaut program, and as such this book represented an interesting look behind the scenes of a very public and at the same time rather secretive part of modern US history. These early astronauts basically overnight changed from being a anonymous pilots to lived their lives in the public eye.

The very entertaining way in which Tom Wolfe presents his view on their lives and the program stands the test of time, although the book looses (at least) one star due to the at times rather one-sighted comments and conclusions (like in the case of Gus Grissom). A revised edition, benefiting form the new information that has been made public since the original publication, would definitely be welcomed - recommended.