An interesting story bogged down by facts

Come Fly the World was one of the original slogans from Pan-Am Airlines, and it really reflects what the women who signed up to be trained as flight attendants believed in when choosing their careers. Much of this book circles around the women who worked for Pan-Am in the 60s and 70s, almost all of who signed up to break away from their small-town lives and see the broader world beyond. Things during this time period were incredibly rigid when it came to what was expected of flight attendants. The women interviewed for these positions must be between 5’3 and 5’9, under 26 years old, between 105 and 140 pounds, have the right “look” in makeup and dress, and not be married or pregnant. If the airline found out you were married or pregnant, your contract would be terminated, and you would be unable to return to your job in many cases. In addition, women in most airlines, single or not, would be forced out of the job by 32 (35 in some kinder cases) as they were no longer considered in “their prime,” and much of the position of the flight attendant was to be a beautiful but motherly woman who would be attractive to male flyers.

Of course, this book delves into a lot of the sexism that reigned during this period while also focusing on how the women involved rose above it. Without the women of Pan-Am and other airlines, it would have been more challenging for the Equal Opportunities Act to pass and many other lawsuits brought to court based on gender discrimination. It was interesting to read about how women fought against these rules and skirted the issues, hiding their pregnancies or marriages to keep their jobs.

The one big issue I had with the book is that it often jumps in time and place. Many people in my book club felt that it was hard to tell which woman was which as the author didn’t write this in a way where you thought you knew the women. I didn’t feel any emotional connection to the ladies in this book, and while I admired them and their hard work, I never felt like I knew any of them by the end. The book is concise and makes for a quick read, but I often skimmed as I read because there was so much political and airplane-based information it went in one ear and out the other. I wish this were structured differently, such as linearly or with a woman’s personal story told through a single chapter, then a more fact-based chapter and another personal story. By the time I was 100 pages in, I wished I had taken notes on who each woman was, as you could go 75 pages before they were mentioned again.

Overall this is a good book that talks about an exciting time that I had no previous knowledge about, but I wish it were more readable and less informational.

Title: Come Fly the World
Author: Julia Cooke
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780358251408

Three Descriptors: Interesting, Niche History, Slow-Moving

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