I read this book over a two-week period while moving from Hawaii to Connecticut, and it was perfect. I can count on one hand the number of Non-Fiction books I read in a year, but this was the best book to read while traveling across the country.

There's no story or plot to follow, and this book requires pretty much zero thought. It's the history of Pan American Airlines from the '60s until it folded in the '90s.

The book also loosely follows three stewardesses and their journey within the Pan Am company.

Overall, I really enjoyed this! I absolutely loath flying, but I've always loved the class and glamour of the Jet-Set age. When flying was an adventure, and people dressed for the occasion instead of showing up in sweat pants and pajamas as they do today.

If you have any interest in Pan Am or the golden age of air travel, then I absolutely recommend this book. There are a few chapters that get a little bogged down with information that can be boring, but as a whole, it was a really good story.

A lot of interesting information about the days when stewardesses roamed the earth and Pan Am Airlines ruled the world but, in the end, I got a little tired of the overflow of information. Just okay.

Julie Cooke’s focuses on Pan Am through the eyes of its stewardesses. Their lives are intertwined with the history of the airline and its place in history. The flight attendants highlighted in this worthwhile read came on board during a changing period in America, Vietnam, discrimination and equal rights for women. The author shares the glamour of being selected as a Pan Am stewardess, the training, the history of their dress and how the women should present themselves to their passengers. We also see how involved the airline and the stewardesses were in the Vietnam war and the flights with soldiers going to or from combat.
Little did I know the emotions that would be tapped when I. Egan this book. It’s a stunning study of life, history and a moment in time that was unlike any other.
Thanks to NetGalley, Julia Cooke and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an ARC of this highly recommended read in exchange for an honest book review.

3/5 stars

Thanks for providing this precious arc in regards to the publisher and author!

It was a fine novel. Not too dazzling but fine piece of literature

It started for me with those fabulous blue and white square travel bags... I was enamored with Pan Am Airlines. Sadly, I wasn't old enough for their heyday of two-story flights with a lounge, bar, and warm meals at any given time of the day.

Come Fly The World is the epitome of those fabulous bags and more! I read this in March which in the United States is National Women's History month — a perfect time to celebrate and read about the women who served customers, consoled Vietnam Soldiers, picked up war orphans in the middle of danger, fought for Women's Rights, lived throughout the world learning about self-identity, strength, and even bravery all while wearing heels at heights unimaginable 50 years before when the Wright Brothers attempted their first flight.

Julia Cooke weaves world history, social construct, and fashion into this novel and does it while folding out a tale that not only educates but entertains.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the women who changed the world for generations of women (and men to be honest,) no matter their age, ethnicity, gender, physical appearance, or relationship status. Pan Am was a great airline. It was very sad to have their company shut down before I was of an age to explore the world myself. "Stewardesses" lived large, lived how they wanted, and created a camaraderie that lasted beyond their work years.

As a teen, I dreamed of traveling the world by working up and down the aisle of a plane. This book makes me regret not achieving that dream.

Thank you, NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Julia Cook for the opportunity to read Come Fly the World in exchange for an honest review.

I wrote about or featured this title on my blog and will provide the details directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process.

Speaking as someone whose lifelong dream it’s been to be a flight attendant, I was immediately drawn to this book. The gorgeous glam cover and retro vibes were totally what hooked me. Overall, I felt I got a lot of interesting info from this book, but some of the minutiae felt a little dry. I think I’d loved it to have included photographs. But on the bright side, it’s inspired me to read more on the topic!

This was a fascinating premise - tell the stories of stewardesses (back when they were called that!). The author obviously did her research and I learned some interesting things; but I found the flow of the book to be disjointed and sometimes confusing. It seems it would have been better to tell all of each woman's story at once instead of sprinkled throughout the book. By the time someone was mentioned again, I'd forgotten what was said about her earlier.

The facts here will undoubtedly sound like fiction to young people. They have no idea what times were like for women in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Hopefully they will appreciate what their predecessors went through to get them the freedom they enjoy today.

A fascinating look into the world of Pan Am airways in this compelling biography. The author's journalistic approach allows us as a reader to become fully immersed in this eye opening time.

I admit that the cover of Come Fly the World was one of the reasons I felt compelled to pick up Julia Cooke's book. But, once I started reading it, the stories about the lives of the stewardesses she profiled, all of whom worked for Pan Am International Airlines, were equally compelling (as the cover), if not more so.

First and foremost, it must be understood that Pan Am was the only airline that flew EXCLUSIVELY, INTERNATIONAL flights. So, if you boarded a Pan Am flight, then you were getting off in a foreign country. This is an extremely important detail, in that the stewardesses working for Pan Am, underwent rigorous training in order to be able to understand and best serve the many cultures of the customers who they would be serving. These stewardesses were, for all intents and purposes, actually "foreign diplomats" representing the United States.

Her book, (which took her 6 years to write), on a broad level, is about the places the women flew to on Pan Am, the work culture of the airline, and also, the role that the women played in the Vietnam war (she covers this in GREAT detail, as Pan Am flew the draftees both to the war, to R&R breaks in their service, and back to the United States after they completed their tour).

Cooke managed to become well acquainted with the 5 women she portrays in her book. It is clear from her writing that she was fascinated by them. These women did not fit any mold, says Cooke, describing them, in her own words, as being, "in between feminine and feminist". They were actually, both of these at once. They were women who were ahead of their times.

In the book, Julia really shows that their jobs, as stewardesses for Pan Am (in particular), were at times incredibly dangerous, flying through war zones (Vietnam, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Africa).

There is so much detail in this book that I can not include everything I found so fascinating while reading it. From fashion, to architecture, to politics, to food and friendships, and culture, this book is both broad in scope, and also extremely detailed. I really loved it and highly recommend it.

Thank you #netgalley and @hmhbooks for my advanced copy of #comeflytheworld by @juliacooke in return for my honest review. #5stars

Come Fly the World is a fascinating look at what it was like to be a stewardess for Pan Am in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Julia Cooke’s journalistic background offers a fact-based approach. When combined with the real-life stories of the women featured in the book, an amazing snapshot of women’s rights, and war was gloriously presented.

A pretty interesting look into the lives of Pan Am flight attendants. There were some parts that seemed to drag a bit, but overall a good read if you are interested in history and nonfiction.

<i> Thank you to NetGalley and Julia Cooke for a free copy to provide an unbiased review</I>

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 <i>stewardesses</i> 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 (<i>not that I rated it based on that fact</I>) but chocked full of data and anecdotes that give you a true understanding of the industry.

This was such an interesting story. It goes into great detail the times, the position of Pan Am and the women who worked for Pan Am. I was surprised by how interesting it was, so many details but easily given so the story flowed well. I liked finding out more about the three main women the story covers and the reminder of what the US was going through at the same time.

I was also impressed by the huge amount of notations and information at the end. This author definitely did their homework. It was just a little hard to get in to to start but once I reached the 25% mark, I got a flow and it was a fun read!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

I was so excited for this book, but was unfortunately somewhat let down. I loved the author’s mix of personal stories about the women she’d interviewed, alongside more background facts and details of the political climate both in the US and in the countries each woman visited in the course of her job.

However, I found the plot somewhat slow and I lost interest about halfway through because of it.

A lively look at the world of the early flight attendants. I felt like a really got a good sense of the era and how different yet how far we haven't come in 2021. I loved the stories of the actual women who had this job.

Post WWII most women wouldn’t dream of working outside the home, and they most certainly did not travel unaccompanied. That all shifted when Pan Am set out to become the most influential airlines on a global scale. In the mid 1960’s Pan Am decided that a friendly, pretty face would soothe their anxious passengers. Their well trained stewardesses would be efficient, organized, presentable and always smiling. Like a swarm of designer angels in the sky to fulfill your every need they were a particular height, weight, college educated and spoke more than one language. As the women’s liberation movement was gaining momentum, a Pan Am stewardess grabbed this opportunity to be free as a bird. Still up against inflexible age, marriage and pregnancy restrictions (designed by an all male management) these young ladies knew they had a decade to fulfill their dreams of exploring the world. So much more than a pretty face, Pan Am stewardesses played an active role flying soldiers home from Vietnam and accompanying thousands of Vietnamese orphans during Operation Babylift. This fascinating peek into the rise and fall of an iconic airlines is a must read. Hats off to these brave women who contributed dramatically to the growth and determination of generations to come!

I received a free ARC of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am! As an international flight attendant working for a legacy airline in the US, we're bombarded with pictures and stories of what is referred to as The Golden Era of aviation. When everyone wore their Sunday best on airplanes and the first class meals weren't overrated frozen meals, but freshly cooked roast beef that was carved right beside your seat. Flight attendants, or stewardesses as they were called back in the day, were granted almost celebrity status within society. And those uniforms *chef's kiss*.

This book is a history of the Pan Am flight attendants during the late 60s and early 70s. At that time Pan Am was the only airline in the US to be able to fly internationally, and it was considered one of the premier airlines in the world. Cooke interviewed a handful of flight attendants and weaved their stories into the broader picture of what was happening during those times. The fight for racial equality in hiring, the feminist movement, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War all played different roles within the lives of the Pan Am flight attendants.

Cooke focuses on how Pan Am and the flight attendants played a huge role in the Vietnam War since they were constantly landing in Saigon and other South Vietnamese airports during the war ferrying soldiers into and out of Vietnam. Different flight attendants had differing views on the war, but all of their stories bring into focus the humanity of the Vietnam War, which isn't a topic that is typically discussed in non-fiction accounts.

I really don't have any negatives about this book. I found it completely engaging, and very well written. It's obvious Cooke did her research into the aviation industry because her usage of our jargon was spot on. It was fascinating to read how layovers were in Moscow at the height of the Cold War and how flight attendants were essential in Operation Babylift at the end of the Vietnam War. Most people only think about the glamour of those flight attendants in Golden Age, and don't consider how they had a front seat view to the global political landscape of the 60s and 70s. It made me consider my job and how I've seen the devastation in Venezuela first-hand before we stopped flying there. Or how I learned the ups and downs of the Brazilian economy throughout the 2010s based on increases and decreases of the number of daily flights to the country. It really gave me a new perspective.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the aviation industry, feminist history, and the era of the 60s and 70s. This book is going to become one of those favorites that I recommend to everyone I know. 5 out of 5 stars.

Julia Cooke Come Fly The World The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2021

Thank you, Net Galley, for the advance uncorrected proof sent to me for review.

Firstly, I need to say that if this uncorrected proof is evidence of the standard that can be expected from a proofed copy the standard will be remarkably high. This uncorrected copy was well formatted, meticulously organised, with consistency in the chapter title design, and provided a read unhindered by numerous typos.
Secondly, these qualities of organisation and consistency are easily demonstrated with reference to the section and chapter titles. They also, more importantly, illustrate the fascinating journey Julia Cooke describes through the stewardesses (as they were during most of the period Cooke covers, the gender-neutral title ‘flight attendant’ being adopted only at the end of this era). There are three sections: THE WRONG KIND OF GIRL; YOU CAN’T FLY WITH ME; and WOMEN’S WORK. Within the sections there are chapters that include titles such as Horizons Unlimited, Foreign Service, One, Two, Three, What are we Fighting For? in Section 1. Section 2 covers topics such as What Do You Women Want? Open Skies for Negro Girls [initially I thought this term was perhaps, like ‘stewardess’ of the period. In reading the chapter it is apparent that the title was based on the headline in Ebony, a black newspaper, published in 1963. African American and Black American is used in the text.] Girls, De Facto Feminist and An Extension of the Airline. Under WOMEN’S WORK chapter titles identify the perhaps surprising range of events for which the flight attendants had trained: Everything flyable, War Comes Aboard, The Most Incredible Scene and The Only Lonely Place Was on the Moon. The EPILOGUE brings together the futures of Lynne, Karen and Tori’s stories which make a major contribution to the book; a range of stories, brief but telling, about the outcomes for many other flight attendants; and outcomes for may unnamed former stewardesses who remain in touch and continue to travel (with inside information).
Cooke combines personal stories, most significantly those of Lynne, Karen and Tori, with events such as the Vietnam War and its impact on American politics, soldiers, stewardesses and Vietnamese. There is enough of Hazel Bowie’s story to personalise the chapter on the admission of black Americans to airline positions, the fight against racism, and eventual passage of legislation. The historical chapters, covering world and American events together with details about the changes in aviation; the role of women in working for the airlines, with a huge amount of detail in relation to Pan Am; changes in legislation and the events that led to such changes; and, on a lighter level, the ways in which social mores and women’s changing demands impacted on airline uniforms.
I was encouraged to choose this book because of the short lived television series of Pan Am in which the Australian Margot Robbie starred early in her Hollywood career. The series showed the enthusiasm of the women who joined Pan Am, the strict controls on weight and appearance, and the lives they led on and off the planes. Cooke gives the reader all the glamour of the television series: it’s not hard to imagine Robbie and her companions in glamourous uniforms striding toward exciting destinations in sought after careers in the stories that fill Come Fly The World. However, events such as the baby flights from Vietnam as the Americans departed; the distress and necessity to entertain soldiers leaving Vietnam for short breaks, and then their return; the competition for promotions and discrimination that undermined women’s career prospects; the hard work some undertook to achieve legislation to improve conditions; the marriages and partnerships that prospered and foundered under flying conditions are also vividly described in this book. All these events are professionally researched, and there are numerous impressive endnotes.
Julia Cooke has written a book that deftly combines serious material with loads of fun information; heart rending vignettes with glamorous adventures in exotic destinations; and a good dose of reality about what it meant to be a Pan Am stewardess. A thought for a possible addition - some photos of flight attendants’ uniforms, for example, over the period would be in keeping with the attention to appearance that is shown by the gorgeous cover.

An inspiring read about strong, independent women that made mw wish I would have been able to be a flight attendant during this time. A very good read.