I must admit, I went in to this book slightly skeptical. First, (on the paperback edition) there is a picture of an Atlas launching with a Mercury capsule on the cover- and anyone with just a little space history knowledge would know Shepard never rode an Atlas. Second, author Neal Thompson is a noted journalist, but has absolutely no background in space reporting.
Rest assured, the cover photo must have been the publisher's mistake, and Thompson was the perfect guy to write this book! The nearly 50 pages of footnotes, bibliography and acknowledgements attests to this being probably the most thoroughly-researched astronaut bio ever.
Thompson prudently divides the book into three parts- "Before Space" and "Into Space" are about equal in length; "After Space" is about half as long as the other two. Surprisingly, this is not 'another Shepard biography,' it is THE Shepard biography, and what led Thompson to write it was surprise on his part that there had never been a bio written of America's first man in space. Shepard never felt he was eloquent enough to write one of himself, and admitted that passages attributed to him in Life Magazine articles and complilations were ghost-written for him.
There may be a tendency amongst we space-types to skim the 'early life' background sections of books like this and go right to the meat of the subject, but Thompson manages to hold interest even there. Step by step we see the events that changed and shaped Shepard from boy to man, naval aviator to astronaut, astronaut to businessman.
Probably everyone who knew Alan Shepard, with the exception of his family, felt he was a mystery. Even his close friends never felt close- and the sharp contrasts in his character added to the enigma. He came from a fairly well-off family, but grew up in times where each was expected to achieve for himself and not rely on his parents' wealth. He was nearly expelled from Annapolis, then straightened up to be near the top of his class. He nearly washed out as a naval aviator, then turned around to become one of the Navy's best pilots. He was a stern taskmaster and great teacher to fellow flyers; he was the 'icy commander' one minute, a daring practical joker who challenged authority the next. He was a dedicated husband and father; well-known for his 'skirt-chasing' away from home. Despite the rift between them popularized by "The Right Stuff," we find that Alan Shepard and John Glenn really had more in common than they had differences. The author calls attention to these mysteries throughout the book, while meticulously displaying every piece of the puzzle that made up our first astronaut.
Very rich in detail and accuracy- this is a must read for any enthusiast of space history.
