If space exploration has ever sparked your curiosity, "The Right Stuff" could be a starry addition to your bookshelf. Tom Wolfe meticulously dissects the gutsy heart of America's pioneering astronauts with a language that's both sharp and enveloping. It humanizes legends, unpacking the gripping realities behind the stoic facades of the space race's finest, making their celestial escapades earthly and relatable. Wolfe crafts a narrative so vivid and personal, it's as if you're strapping in alongside these brave souls, ready for liftoff.

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• National Book Award for General Nonfiction (Hardcover) (1980)
• National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (1979)
• Columbia Journalism Award (1980)

What is it, I wondered, that makes a man willing to sit up on top of an enormous roman candle, such as a Redstone, Atlas, Titan or Saturn rocket, and wait for someone to light the fuse? I decided on the simplest approach possible. I would ask a few astronauts and find out … to put into words matters that the very code of the pilot rules off-limits in conversation. These matters … add up to one of the most extraordinary and most secret dramas of the twentieth century.'One of the most romantic and thrilling books ever written about men who put themselves in peril'Boston Globe'The Right Stuff is Wolfe's best book'Sunday Times'Absolutely first class … Improbable as some of Tom's tales seem, I know he's telling it like it was'Former Astronaut Michael Collins

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