Summary of Julia Cooke's Come Fly the World

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Julia Cooke's Come Fly the World in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Required to have a college education, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669343738

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Julia Cooke's Come Fly the World

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The author, a woman in her twenties, was interviewing for a job as a stewardess for Pan Am in 1969. The company had advertised, Why don’t you join the country club. But another Pan Am ad frequently aired in 1969: a gorgeous woman with flawlessly applied eye makeup walking down the street.

#2

In college, the author listened to her peers debate American intervention in Vietnam, which was never officially declared a war. She began to doubt the morality of the wars she was fighting, and gradually changed her mind and conviction that she could do more in the real world than in a lab.

#3

Lynne was a bright and ambitious girl who dreamed of exploring the world. She was a college student in her last year of school when she took a trip to Europe. Her parents were against her plan to fly with Pan Am, which was the only American airline that flew exclusively international routes.

#4

The first commercial airline stewardess was Sadie Ericson, who was featured in a 1936 profile in the Chicago Sunday Tribune.

#5

The decades following the war saw the creation of many of the modern jets and planes used today. Women began serving passengers on aircraft, and this was largely seen as a positive change.