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Julia Cooke is a journalist and travel writer whose features and personal essays have been published in Time, Smithsonian, Cand Nast Traveler, and Saveur. She is the author of The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba. The daughter of a former Pan Am executive, Cooke grew up in the Pan Am toon meer "family," a still-strong network across the globe. She lives in Vermont. toon minder

Werken van Julia Cooke

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Parts of it were very interesting and contained items not generally known - the Pan Am involvement in Vietnam soldiers R&R flights for instance - but much of it seemed unfocused and somewhat tedious. It begins with a discussion of job requirements and training for Pan Am stewardesses in the 1950's. We are introduced to several characters who we will come back to in nearly every chapter as their careers progress. But then the book veers into discussions of how women are not treated fairly by employers and talk of EEOC lawsuits. The author keeps coming back to a State Department employee for some reason. Then the book veers into discussions of the Vietnam war, and much time is spent on a single orphan airlift out of Vietnam. As a matter of fact, that flight is the only one where we get a description of the work the stewardesses did. A cohesive story it is not.… (meer)
 
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Jeff.Rosendahl | 12 andere besprekingen | Apr 18, 2023 |
I knew I’d be drawn into this month’s book club selection. Focusing on Pan Am flight attendants aka stewardesses in the Pan Am heyday was a perfect timeframe to capture my attention. Coming of age in the 60’s and early 70’s, this period is full of high school and college memories for me. Using the domestic and global events that took place, the author laid out the role Pan Am stewardesses played either directly or indirectly. Educated and craving adventure, young women were testing their hard-earned freedom as they travelled the world. The second wave of feminism was in full throttle. The reader gets a glimpse into the lifestyle and the challenges of being a female global ambassador. I really appreciated that she brought the narrative full circle by including stories of how worldwide travel changed the perspective of the women who in turn passed on an openness and fearlessness to their families that will extend through future generations. The writing lacked energy, but it was not dry. I found it well worth the read whether you are of a certain age or not.… (meer)
 
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beebeereads | 12 andere besprekingen | Apr 15, 2023 |
This was something I picked up on an airport layover. "Come Fly The World" seemed to be just what I should be reading as I jetted over the United States. However, I just couldn't get interested. The ladies profiled in this book undoubtedly led full and adventurous lives, breaking barriers and changing the way the role of flight attendant as they did. They find themselves in exotic locales, war zones, and exciting cities worldwide. Sadly, it wasn't very exciting to read about. Of interest, though, were the very demanding job requirements that each woman was subjected to, i.e. height/weight/age requirements.

This could be of interest to those with an interest in the story of Pan Am and the story of flight attendants.
… (meer)
 
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briandrewz | 12 andere besprekingen | Oct 30, 2022 |
An interesting read, Come Fly the World follows the lives of a small group of women who worked as flight attendants (stewardesses, in the language at the time) for Pan Am in the '60s and '70s, at the height of that airline's glamour and profitability. Pop culture—and often their employers—framed these women as over-sexualized and subservient, a kind of geisha of the sky. As Julia Cooke points out, though, these women had to be intelligent and resilient, fluent in at least two languages, and able to cope both with demanding government officials and with airlifting traumatised child refugees out of Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon.

Cooke clearly conducted extensive interviews with a small group of former stewardesses, and tells a vivid and sometimes dramatic story from their perspective. Her journalism background stands her in good stead here. However, the sheer scope of the story Cooke's telling—about women's history, about U.S. imperialism, about the rise and decline of luxury air travel, about race (one of the women profiled was one of the few Black women who worked for Pan Am)—and the weight of some of its aspect needed more than the broad strokes narrative that Cooke often resorted to. As best as I can tell, she doesn't have any training in historical analysis, and that shows here in the lack of depth and in the important topics that are only glanced on (for example, she seems not to have interviewed any Asian American stewardesses, a glaring omission when so much time is spent on Pan Am's history in South East Asia in particular). Still a worthwhile read, but I doubt it will be the final word on the topic.
… (meer)
½
 
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siriaeve | 12 andere besprekingen | Nov 16, 2021 |

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Werken
4
Leden
336
Populariteit
#70,811
Waardering
½ 3.5
Besprekingen
16
ISBNs
23
Talen
1

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