03/10/2014
When astronaut Dr. Sally Ride died in 2012, the woman who was once the most famous person in the world, shocked many when her obituary revealed that she was survived by her female partner of nearly three decades. Journalist Sherr, a longtime friend of Ride, gets behind the walls of the very guarded and private pioneer in this engrossing biography. Ride’s trajectory may have been entirely different if the former top-ranked 1968 college tennis player in the East had pursued the game professionally. But when NASA began recruiting women and minorities in 1976, Ride, who had been the only female student in her undergraduate physics class, beat out 8,000 others to get her spot. It was a heady and historic time, although not without an abundance of sexist and clueless ideas both from NASA (the engineers asking Ride if 100 tampons for a week in space was sufficient) and the press (a reporter infamously asked if she wept when angry). Level-headed and possessed of an optimistic live-in-the-moment attitude, she skillfully navigated such public moments and kept the personal locked away out of view. In the end, Sherr provides a window into one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century. (June)
Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space
Narrated by Pam Ward
Lynn SherrUnabridged — 13 hours, 27 minutes
Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space
Narrated by Pam Ward
Lynn SherrUnabridged — 13 hours, 27 minutes
Audiobook (Digital)
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
Related collections and offers
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Overview
In Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space, Lynn Sherr writes about Ride's scrupulously guarded personal life, with exclusive access to Ride's partner, her former husband, her family, and countless friends and colleagues. This is a rich biography of a fascinating woman whose life intersected with revolutionary social and scientific changes in America. Sherr's revealing portrait is warm and admiring but unsparing. It makes this extraordinarily talented and bold woman-an inspiration to millions-come alive.
Editorial Reviews
Wow. What a read. I was enthralled and enchanted. Sally Ride is a national treasure, free-thinker, and adventurer extraordinaire. Lynn Sherr's years as a NASA correspondent bleed through with the pulsing drama of our early space discoveries. And her close friendship with Sally renders the inside story replete with delightful and eccentric detail.
Unsparing
Engaging
Compelling
Sherr, a longtime ABC News correspondent who covered Ride’s flight and knew her well, brings a confident, breezy tone to Ride’s life story. …. It’s a full and happy life that makes for a fast, fun read.
A must-read.
Complex and nuanced.
A great American biography . . . Lynn Sherr’s Sally Ride is a vibrant, honest, and at long last, complete portrait of the woman who bucked history, changed the space agency, and helped alter her country.
What’s refreshing about Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space is that Lynn Sherr paints an evenhanded portrait of Ride as an iconic American whose accomplishments are inseparable from the second-wave feminist moment in which she reached them.
A biography of America’s first woman in space that is riveting, beautifully written and rich in detail… Sherr effectively goes beyond Ride’s familiar public facade — the bright smile and twinkling blue eyes — and reveals a complex woman…[a] captivating biography.
As an astronaut who became an icon, Sally Ride was an inspiration to millions. But as Lynn Sherr documents in this candid, thorough, and touching portrait, she was also an explorer of life. I'm grateful to Lynn for revealing the Sally I never knew, and for filling an important gap in the literature of the U.S. space program.
An exquisite and careful biography . . . one of the most inspiring stories I've ever read about a woman at the top of her profession who never stopped pushing herself; who never stopped serving the causes she loved and who never lived a public life as the woman she really was. . . . I was moved, inspired and grateful for this detailed and compelling account of the life of such an extraordinary woman.
Beautifully done . . . impossible to put down. Sherr draws us into a will and a passion more vast than outer space.
Revealing…The Sally Ride that emerges here — courageous, gifted, determined, complicated, conflicted — is both heroic and human. Sherr captures her as someone who didn’t just want to make a name for herself. She wanted to make a difference.
In this engaging and entertaining book, Lynn Sherr tells the story of America's exploration in the outer reaches of space and in the innermost attitudes toward human sexuality. We learn not only about Sally Ride's extraordinary life as the first American woman in space, but also for the first time of her intense and equally fascinating private life.
"This is an intimate and enormously appealing biography of a fascinating woman, a triumph of research and sensitivity that lives up to its subject and will likely move readers to tears."
Thanks to this moving, inspirational account of [Sally Ride’s] life, we can more fully honor this hero as a human being.
"This is an intimate and enormously appealing biography of a fascinating woman, a triumph of research and sensitivity that lives up to its subject and will likely move readers to tears in its final, poignant pages. ---Booklist Starred Review
Thanks to this moving, inspirational account of [Sally Ride’s] life, we can more fully honor this hero as a human being.
"This is an intimate and enormously appealing biography of a fascinating woman, a triumph of research and sensitivity that lives up to its subject and will likely move readers to tears in its final, poignant pages. —Booklist Starred Review
"Sherr portrays a complex woman, easy-going one day, hard-hearted the next and inscrutable about her 27-year relationship with her female partner."
★ 09/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, impressive had earned a newly minted doctorate in physics from Stanford when she applied for the space program, beating out a thousand applicants for the job. Her focus was on her work and that dedication led to all of her successes. Published originally for the adult market, this audiobook will light a spark in girls who do not yet know that the sky is literally their limit. Ride spent much of her post-NASA years encouraging young women to study math and science. Written by Ride's close friend, news commentator Lynn Sherr, this is an objective look at the astronaut's complex life with all of her strengths and her shortcomings. Ride kept her lesbian relationship with partner Tam O'Shaughnessy hidden from the public. Even close friends, including Sherr, were surprised by its revelation in her obituary. While listeners will never know Ride's reasons for keeping her sexual orientation private, this biography will inspire young women who have grand ideas by knowing that this woman let nothing stand in her way. Pam Ward's narration is straightforward, objective, and suits the book beautifully.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Narrator Pam Ward perfectly reflects the literary voice of author Lynn Sherr in this in-depth examination of the life of Sally Ride, America's first female astronaut. Ward’s animated voice and varied pace suit the narrative, particularly the passages about Ride’s personal life. Because Sherr and Ride were longtime friends, the text comes off like an extended conversation, and Ward picks up that tone nicely. Vocally, she imparts both the author’s feelings and Ride’s. Pausing before direct quotations, she gives the listener a clear indication of what’s to follow. While she doesn’t try to give other speakers distinctive voices, it’s clear from slight changes that someone other than Sherr or Ride is talking. R.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
2014-03-30
An award-winning journalist's revealing biography of Sally Ride (1951-2012), the first American woman in space. Former ABC News correspondent Sherr (Swim: Why We Love the Water, 2012, etc.) first met Ride, a young Stanford-trained physicist, in 1981. Three years earlier, NASA had chosen Ride to join a group of five other women and 29 men to participate in the new space shuttle program. The group represented the very best minds America had to offer. But for the women, who were the first in NASA history to be selected for space flight, the challenge was even greater. They not only represented themselves as individuals, but their entire gender. As the first woman to actually go on a mission, Ride came under especially intense scrutiny from the media. Her ability to lead but also "take orders like a trooper," along with her wit and charm, endeared her to America and the world. During the nine years she was associated with the space program, Ride's exemplary conduct "transformed female astronauts from a punch line into a matter of national pride." She returned to academia afterward and became a professor. Eager to use her notoriety to help young people, and especially girls, take an interest in math and science, she co-founded Sally Ride Science in 2001. However, the former astronaut was never entirely comfortable with her celebrity status and kept parts of her life hidden, including the fact that she was a lesbian. Though married during her years at NASA, Ride's true sexual orientation did not become public until her death, when her obituary mentioned that she had been survived by a female partner of nearly three decades. Sherr's book is important not simply because it memorializes an American icon. It pointedly reminds readers of the crippling burden of "shame and fear" that even—and perhaps especially—the most golden heroes must bear in societies that cannot tolerate difference. An intimately celebratory biography.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170744244 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 06/03/2014 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 948,515 |
Videos
