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“This is a good treatment of the origins of the US space program.”
— Choice
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“Teitel’s delivery is strong overall…The work is a veritable Who’s Who of post-1930s American aviation.”
— AudioFile
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“Teitel took a deep dive into a host of public records to craft this dual biography of Cochran and Cobb, creating a firm portrait of two driven and determined individuals.”
— Booklist
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“A well-researched contribution to women’s and aviation history.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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In this smart, fun, compelling, and
deeply researched book, Teitel tells the tale of Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb,
who scrapped with each other and, more important, with a blinkered,
male-dominated space agency, for their chance to be among the first humans to
leave the planet. It's a story of ambition, talent, gender equality, and of a
media frenzy that seems more twenty-first century than 1950s. Teitel's prose is
as infectious as the space-history videos that have made her a YouTube sensation,
and she has picked a story that must have been a delight to write. It's
certainly a delight to read.
— Jeff Kluger, author of Apollo8 and coauthor of Apollo 13 with Jim Lovell
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History is
often not as simple as it seems. In the case of Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb,
this book offers a revealing insight on two characters we thought we knew but
didn't. From different generations and with profoundly different but equally
dogged motivations, these two pilots crossed paths and fought battles in the new
world of women pushing for a place in the air, and perhaps even in space. Amy
Shira Teitel digs beneath the stories to reveal motivations that are not always
as straightforward and admirable as other accounts suggest. A wealth of
original research reminds us that people are complex, and sometimes it is those
complexities that allow them to get as far as they do in the pursuit of
enormous goals-or hold them back.
— Francis French, author of In the Shadow of the Moon
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Spaceflight
historian Teitel took a deep dive into a host of public records to craft this
dual biography of Cochran and Cobb, creating a firm portrait of two driven and
determined individuals.
— Booklist
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Cleverly intertwines
the stories of two women pilots...Teitel allows us to feel personally engaged
with two fascinating characters who each made pretty quirky decisions...A
remarkable story.
— Medium