Come Fly the World by Julia Clarke: Book Review

Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am by Julia Clarke is a total eye-catcher! The cover is so stunning and is totally the reason I picked this book up.

Clarke’s most recent book was released in March 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Come Fly the World is a non-fiction collection of stories that follows a few women fortunate enough to travel the world with Pan Am in the jet-age of travel. In the early 1960s, women were still expected to get married and start families. But not all women wanted that, and some were fortunate enough to find the freedom in travel. If they were college graduates, spoke two languages, and were politically savvy, they may have found a position with Pan Am.

Clarke uses the women’s stories to tell about the feminist movement in the era. She also discusses Pan Am’s involvement in the Vietnam War, between ferrying soldiers in and out of the country to the evacuation of orphans near the end of the war.

My Opinions

I found this book an interesting read. It is under 300 pages, so it is a relatively short book. But it is a bit of a slug in spots. It’s a non-fiction book, so I expected that. You can tell that Clarke cares about the story she is telling in the book, explained in her author bio in the book.

Clarke weaves the women’s stories with their travels and the freedoms they found in other countries with the social movements in the United States. It was interesting to see how they had more freedoms in foreign countries than in the United States. Something as simple as getting birth control pills. They were allowed to get them in foreign countries, but they were illegal in the United States because they were unmarried. How is that? I’m so grateful that changed.

It is a shame she didn’t organize the book better. The stories jump around, at times making it difficult to keep the stories straight. Most of the book follows three women and their experiences. One other woman was discussed, Hazel Bowie, whose story I found quite interesting. I mean, she was on flights in and out of Moscow at the height of the Cold War. That had to be pretty exciting. I would love to have learned more of her story.

If you are interested in the women’s movement, or air travel in the 1960s, you should give this book a read. Otherwise, you may want to pass on it.

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.