Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am

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Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Julia Cooke (Author), Andi Arndt (Narrator), HMH Audio (Publisher)

4.2 1,690 ratings

Editors' pick Best History

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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, ajet-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.

Listening Length

7 hours and 33 minutes
Author

Julia Cooke
Narrator

Andi Arndt
Audible release date

March 2, 2021
Language

English
Publisher

HMH Audio
ASIN

B08S5VVRLR
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 33 minutes
Author	Julia Cooke
Narrator	Andi Arndt
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	March 02, 2021
Publisher	HMH Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B08S5VVRLR
Best Sellers Rank	#95,724 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #68 in Air Forces Military History #97 in Women History #495 in Military Aviation History (Books)

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4.2 out of 5

1,690 global ratings

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Suzann Stamps

Came for the parties, stayed for the history

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2021

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As a young girl growing up in the 60’s and 70’s contemplating what were considered gender appropriate careers, jobs such as nursing, teaching, and secretarial work held no appeal for me. In my young mind, by far the most glamorous, exciting career choice was stewardess. Who wouldn’t want to be jetting off to exotic cities while wearing a snappy designer uniform? Come Fly The World certainly touches on the glamorous side of the job, the all night parties, the shopping, and the independence allowed these women in a paternalistic era. I picked up this book for the parties but found it to be much more than a frivolous read. Author, Julia Cooke, weaves together the stories of several Pan Am stewardesses of the era to tell a fascinating, well researched story . These women were not just pretty, trim, and pleasant. They were required to be bi-lingual and many held bachelor and advanced degrees. Shut out of other jobs due to the inequality of the times, they found kindred spirits in the other stewardesses of Pan Am looking for adventure and independence. The book parallels the role of stewardess with the plight of women in the 60’s and 70’s. The women of Pan Am founded trade unions and women’s rights groups. They went to court to fight the sexist rules governing their profession. African American women broke racial barriers by becoming stewardesses. Many women volunteered for dangerous flights shuttling soldiers to and from Saigon and flying orphans out of wartorn Vietnam. I still think being a Pan Am stewardess in the 60’s would have been an exciting career, and I will now regard these women with much more respect and appreciation for breaking some glass ceilings as they flew.

5 people found this helpful

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CK M

Substantive Stewardesses

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2023

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This read strikes a great balance of cultural, political, and commercial evolutions in post WW II America. Having taken advantage of the opportunity of world-wide travel as a flight attendant in the early 70s, I am struck by how well this book tells my own story - from flirtatious to feminist, an educated wanderer awed by the Parthenon and Hong Kong street vendors between stints serving miniature meals to planeloads of passengers. The breadth of research and depth of talent in Cooke's pages identify her as the right person to tell all of our stories and shine a light on the substance of the women of the skies. Bravo!

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SaraB

Could Not Put This Down!

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2021

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I am all kinds of obsessed with this book! I haven’t swallowed a book whole like that in a long time. I cannot get enough of these fascinating stories of women in the 1960s flying around the world, going to places so far flung and out of the norm for women of that era. If you like your wanderlust with a sense of breaking tradition and not subscribing the the societal norms that America lays out for women, this is the book for you. It follows a multitude of stewardesses throughout their time working for Pan Am and is soaked through with the history of the jet-set era: Cold War, Vietnam, Civil Rights, plus it’s interlaced with wild stories of the adventures these women got to have in places like Hong Kong, Accra, Guam, India, -- basically the whole world. Cooke also showed how stewardesses were at the forefront of the feminist movement as they demanded things like not having to resign when they got married, being allowed to work past the age of 30, being able to enter managerial positions within the airline, and not being laid off for weight gain.

If you’re expecting a tight narrative focus on just a one or two women, it’s not really that because it jumps around a bit to paint a broad but detailed picture you won’t want to stop looking at. My favorite chapters focused on Hazel (one of the few Black stewardesses) and her growing love for Moscow during her layovers there during the Cold War—trips to the Bolshoi, standing in line with Russian women for lipstick, Hazel discovering that Pushkin was of African descent, it’s all here and it’s amazing.

The breathless refugee flights toward the end of the book in and out of Saigon before it fell had me spellbound and Cooke did an amazing job showing these women at work (literally dodging bullets while pulling people running on the tarmac up an onto a taxiing plane) while handling the wrongness of the Vietnam War.

At its heart is a celebration of travelers, not vacationers. Those who “take a genuine interest in people, in other cultures, in thinking outside their own circumstances.” I love this like in Cooke’s acknowledgements and it sums out how I felt after reading her novel, especially as someone who has directly benefited from the efforts of women in tourism and hospitality before me: “The space that stewardesses in habited and the comfort they earned in motion allowed me, today, to take my own satisfaction from travel, and for that I am grateful.”

14 people found this helpful

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Zelda the Cat

Don't Forget Your Stockings!

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2021

Verified Purchase

Thank you to NetGalley and Julia Cooke for a free copy to provide an unbiased review

I am pretty feminist. I am fairly opinionated. I am fairly lucky that I live in the time period in which I lived because if I worked in this industry I would be fired before I was even on board my first flight. This book was extremely eye opening in the treatment of early stewardesses and women in general.

I was originally drawn to this novel because of the cover and the retro feel. But it quickly turned into a narrative on the time period, the impact of air travel on modern culture, and the insane treatment of women and unrealistic expectations placed on them. As a history teacher there were a lot of nuggets that I did not know - PanAm's role in Vietnam for instance.

While I enjoyed and found this fascinating, I also found it a bit all over the place and tedious in some points. It was not a quick read (not that I rated it based on that fact) but chocked full of data and anecdotes that give you a true understanding of the industry.

22 people found this helpful

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Piper Winifred

wonderful cultural history

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2023

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I loved this book! It was great to read about the stewardesses of Pan Am, but it was about so much more. Julia Cooke wraps her account in a fantastic review of cultural history from the late 1950s to 1970ish. Significant events, political attitudes, women’s ideas, and how the stewardesses interacted with it all creates a book well worth reading. I espoused loved reading about the Baby Lift out of Vietnam right before Saigon fell.

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