The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe: I'll take a beating for this, but I think the book is a bit overrated. From a historical perspective, it is well done and gives you a lot of insight into the early days of the space race. The movie does a good job of comparing the rocket men at Edwards with the "spam in a can" at NASA; the book goes into a greater detail. I detest "flowery language" and mixing philosophy and poetry in with my modern history, and that's where the book loses me. The first half of the book was worse than the second half, but be prepared to have Wolfe go down some emotional and philosophical rabbit holes that, to me, detract from the story. It is a great book undoone at times by his prose
Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen. Jacobsen has written a number of interesting books, hers on Operation Paperclip is well worth your time, but she's also written histories of Area 51 and now the CIA's Special Activities Division. She traces it's lineage, and that of USSF, from the OSS' Jedburgh teams. She draws heavily from interviews with Billy Waugh and a Vietnam SF soldier who went on to head the USSS Presidential Protective Detail. She also claims to have a number of sources within the SAD who discussed some of their work with her, which sounds a bit fishy but maybe they were former SEALS? (I crack me up, anyway...) Her writing style is solid, she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but it is entertaining. I really like the book, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea at full price, especially given the topic.
Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen. Jacobsen has written a number of interesting books, hers on Operation Paperclip is well worth your time, but she's also written histories of Area 51 and now the CIA's Special Activities Division. She traces it's lineage, and that of USSF, from the OSS' Jedburgh teams. She draws heavily from interviews with Billy Waugh and a Vietnam SF soldier who went on to head the USSS Presidential Protective Detail. She also claims to have a number of sources within the SAD who discussed some of their work with her, which sounds a bit fishy but maybe they were former SEALS? (I crack me up, anyway...) Her writing style is solid, she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but it is entertaining. I really like the book, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea at full price, especially given the topic.
