Sally Ride

March 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.

March 15, 2014

Sherr (former correspondent, ABC News; Swim) and Sally Ride (1951-2012), one of America's most famous astronauts, became friends over the course of interviews while Sherr was covering NASA for ABC. Now Sherr presents the authorized biography of Ride, with their friendship adding a personal dimension to the narrative. The late Ride's partner and family provided Sherr with access to many documents and granted her interviews, so the book includes rich details about the personal life of a very private woman. Drawing upon others' works (e.g., Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff), but also her own detailed interviews with key players, Sherr takes the time to discuss the space race, the challenges for women wishing to become astronauts, and the barriers LGBT scientists (Ride was a physicist) have had to overcome, all of which are important contexts for understanding the significance of Ride's milestone achievements. VERDICT The book is fast paced and an engaging read, though some of the very contemporary references (e.g., to Downton Abbey) may end up dating it. It will appeal to space exploration buffs and fans of popular biography, as well as those seeking books on women's achievements in U.S. history.--Sara R. Tompson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lib., Pasadena, CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2014
When her unexpected death from cancer was announced in 2012, the national outpouring of grief over the loss of Sally Ride was swift and genuine. The subsequent obituary revelation that Ride was a lesbian in a committed relationship for more than a quarter-century was proof of how successfully the icon had guarded her personal life. With the full cooperation of Ride's family and friends, both inside and outside of NASA (including ex-husband and fellow astronaut Steve Hawley), author Sherr pores over Ride's life, from her tennis-star childhood to her college years in the male-dominated field of physics and meteoric rise as America's first woman in space. As familiar as readers believe themselves to be with Ride's story, Sherr has done an impressive job of uncovering the pressures (and sometimes comical missteps) of NASA's macho culture and its approach to the first class of women astronauts, the unparalleled commitment Ride brought to her job, and the zeal with which she embraced her later challenge to broaden science opportunities for girls. 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2014
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.

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