Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

Top positive review

Fascinating book; very different from the movie

February 2, 2017

I saw the movie before I read the book, and I am honestly not sure whether that was a good or bad thing. I loved the movie, and I loved the book, but they are very different.

Generally, the book is a very fast-paced and interesting read about the black women who worked at the Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, and their many and varied contributions to the field of aeronautical and astronautical research. It is part biography, part history of NASA, part history of segregation, part history of the civil rights movement, part history of the Virginia peninsula, and part history of women's rights. It is absolutely fascinating.

That being said, the book is very different from the movie, so don't go into it expecting them to be the same. The movie is deeply touching, but it is actually fairly inaccurate, and it has been pretty aggressively whitewashed (see re: the Kevin Costner character). I think it is good to both see the movie and read the book, because one of the critical differences, and the difference that I think is missed entirely by the movie (to its great detriment) is the way in which issues of segregation were actually tackled at Langley. The movie makes it appear that enlightened white men of power were responsible for Langley's integration, when in fact the integration of Langley was almost entirely borne organically and of necessity. The book does a good job of explaining this, whereas that aspect of the movie is almost entirely fictionalized. I thought the movie took away some of the women's victories in this area (Katherine Johnson, for example, never went to the "colored" bathroom. She just used the regular, unlabeled bathroom, and no one ever told her not to), but the book gives the women more credit for their small yet trailblazing acts of defiance.

One other note: the book actually covers quite a bit of complex scientific detail, but it is entirely readable to the layperson.

I highly, highly recommend this book.

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NancyAdairB

Remarkable Women

March 1, 2017

I read Hidden Figures for a local book club. I was in the minority for having finished the book. Most of the ladies went to see the movie. I gave the book five stars for the importance of the subject, new information shared, and for the author's extensive research. As a reading experience, I rated the book three stars; I did not have an emotional connection that compelled me to read on.

I appreciate the author's bringing these women to public attention. I liked how their story is presented in the context of the prevailing racial attitudes of their time.

The book is not a biography of a few women, as in the movie. It is a study in culture.

The bulk of the book covers the massive need for computers--mathematicians--during WWII, offering women and people of color unique job opportunities working for NACA. There were at least 50 black women who worked at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory between 1943 and 1980. President Roosevelt signed an executive order to desegregate the defense industry, creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee.

The African American women hired as computers were not only qualified, some had more education than their white counterparts. Their job opportunities and salary level had been limited, and landing a job at Langley allowed brilliant minds work equal to their ability. The women were dedicated, their high standards apparent in their dress and demeanor as well as in the excellence of their work. The high quality of their work brought respect from the engineers. At the same time, Virginia's segregation laws restricted the women to where they could live and what bathroom they could use.

The later part of the book covers the change of the NACA to NASA and the Space Race. I found it more compelling to read. The technology was changing to computers and the mathematicians had to retool their skills to keep up with the times.

My favorite story was about John Glenn's 1962 flight and how Glenn didn't trust computers to get him safely back to Earth; he said, "Get the girl to check the numbers. If she says the number are good, I'm ready to go." He trusted Kathryn Johnson, the human computer.

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Orbital trajectories are tone-deaf to color

April 6, 2017

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Unfortunately, it is becoming more typical to find that historians view history as something that must be “revised” in order to offer a different outlook that is contrary to a prevailing political or social ideology. It is almost as if there is an axiom that says that historical viewpoints are automatically biased and that the purging of these biases can only be done by reinterpreting facts and events and putting them in a “different” context. A student of history will therefore not learn about facts and events but rather trends in political and social ideology.

This book is definitely a work of history, but it does not conform to the framework outlined in the last paragraph. It is delightfully uncommon, in that it is a work that both inspires and and one that celebrates the joys and rigors of scientific and engineering endeavor. It is a work that focuses on a small group of people, or “computers”, who were subjected to the cruel irrationality of racial discrimination, but yet did not allow themselves to view this as a life-negating burden. Their optimism is refreshing, and via the meticulous delineation of the events of their lives, the author has given the reader a better understanding and appreciation of their achievements.

It goes without saying that readers who have a background in engineering, mathematics, or physics will understand better the technical terminology that occurs in the book, but that does not mean that readers who do not have this background will not appreciate the places in the book where the engineering concepts come up. The author does a fine job of explaining the relevant ideas, and also gives the more technical reader a history of how computational physics evolved from the use of mechanical computers to the now dominant use of electronic computation. Readers who remember using punch cards and program drums will chuckle of course at these bygone days.

That everyone can contribute to modern science and engineering is the biggest lesson of this book. The human brain is the same color no matter what the national and ethnic origin of the person that it is embedded in. The neuronal synapses that are activated in the calculation of orbital trajectories are not aware of skin tone.

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A Very Well-Written Biography (Not Historical Fiction) about African American Women Mathematicians and the "Space Race"!

February 24, 2017

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Over a month ago, I heard about the movie Hidden Figures coming out and wanted to know more about it. Once I found out there was a book that the movie is based on, I purchased it in case I get the chance to see it in the theaters (I haven't seen it yet). My personal rule of thumb is that I need to read the book before I see the movie because there are so many more details in books that movies aren't able to cover. Personally, I feel I get more out of the movie if I've read the book first. I didn't know much more about "Hidden Figures" other than the fact that it's about African American women mathematicians who played big roles in the "space race" but that was enough to intrigue me.

"Hidden Figures" is considered a biography about the many African American women mathematicians who worked for NACA, NASA's predecessor, and did the work of computers before they were developed. These women were educated and striving to succeed in the 1940s and later during a time when most of the engineering and mathematician jobs were held by white men. "Hidden Figures" covers the unique stories of four women, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who were instrumental in figuring out complex equations to successfully land John Glenn and company on the moon, as well as other major endeavors.

The main thing I would like to make known for anyone considering purchasing this book is that the book is not considered historical fiction or fiction of any kind. It's considered a biography and covers areas of science and math as well. There are a lot of facts and interesting descriptions and I learned a lot about a subject I knew next to nothing. That being said, I'll be honest and admit I had a hard time reading this book. It isn't because of how it is written because it is very well-written. Margot Lee Shetterly did an outstanding job writing, researching, and painting a picture of history which opened my eyes and helped me learn more about this subject. The reason I had a hard time reading it is because I generally read fiction and there are so many facts in this book that I had a hard time digesting all of them. I really could only read a chapter or two each day so this book took me about two weeks to read. Again, I'd like to reiterate that it's not as much about the book but about how my interests and reading preferences mixed with the book's subjects.

It's obvious the book is very well-researched and I was able to imagine myself during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. I wasn't born until the early 80s and it was nice to hear how the parts of history I knew about intertwined with what I was learning to create a bigger picture of everything that happened. I'd say the book is a good mixture of NACA/NASA history and how the women fit into the big picture. The book doesn't solely focus on the women and it helps to describe a big part of history that is good to know.

Overall, I liked this book and learned a lot from it but I had a hard time reading it only because I don't typically read a lot of nonfiction. I'm still happy I read it and would still have read it, regardless of how the content is presented, but I would've probably been better prepared if I had known more about how the book is written. The actual book itself is 265 pages, followed by acknowledgements, notes for further information (divided up by chapter and page number), an extensive bibliography, index, and reading group guide. If you are interested in reading this book, just know that it isn't historical fiction, but it's very well-written and you will learn a lot from it. I recommend reading this book and hope to see the movie soon!

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The booktrailTop Contributor: Circus

Inspiring story!

March 5, 2017

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Remarkable. That’s the best review I can give this story to be honest. I’d never heard of these women nor of the work they and others like them did. Why don’t we read about this at school or why is it not better known? Well now with this book and the movie coming out, I hope that changes as people like this should be on the front pages of the history books not banished to the side lines if they appear at all.

I’d read a few stories of people forgotten or tainted by history – Alan Turning, Henrietta Lacks….such remarkable people and because of the colour of their skin or their sexuality they’re brushed aside and ignored!!? Apart from the racial issues and the portrayal of the Civil Rights movement ongoing at the time, the work which went on Langley and NASA was also remarkable and looking back when you think of what it would lead to…

I am in awe of these women and can’t wait to see the movie. Oscar nominated and quite rightly so.

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Amazon Customer

Revelatory "Hidden Figures" Really Rings True

May 7, 2017

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This book really rang true for me on several levels -- and was a real revelation in several major other respects. I grew up in the same Tidewater community as the author (but in the 1950s) -- in my case, as the (white) daughter of a NACA/NASA engineer who worked at Langley from 1946 until we moved to Texas, along with others in the Space Task Group, in 1962. Although my family occasionally visited Langley and frequently socialized with the families of some of its other engineers (two or three of whose wives had worked there as secretaries), I grew up with no idea that there were any women, black or white, working there as mathematicians or engineers -- and no real idea as to the intellectual attributes any of the jobs in either of those professions required. Thanks to the author of "Hidden Figures," I do now. I've recommended it to all of my younger siblings and their children, and I believe that a every community library in America should include a copy.

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Rebecca J. Allen

I usually stand firmly in “the book was better” camp, but for Hidden Figures, I recommend both the book and the movie!

February 28, 2018

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My daughter and I saw Hidden Figures in the theater and were cheering for the characters by the end, so I felt confident that the book would have appeal for Winged Pen readers. We loved the interwoven stories of the talented mathematicians who not only took on work that would be challenging to someone of either gender and any skin-color, but at the same time also had to push through the limits American society placed on black women. And they did it with class.

Katherine Johnson pushed to get her work taken seriously, positioning herself to undertake leading-edge thinking on the mathematics of getting astronauts into space. At John Glenn's request, she checked the orbital trajectory computed by the newly-installed IBM electronic computer for America's first manned space flight. Mary Jackson pushed limits by getting the education required to become an engineer, including taking classes at a whites-only school because key classes weren’t taught elsewhere. She used her engineering skills to conduct experiments on flight in the NACA (The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor agency to NASA) wind tunnels.

Dorothy Vaugh managed the West Computing group at NACA , helping many black women in her group to launch and advance their careers. She also transformed her own career and those of colleagues as computing transitioned from something done by people using slide rules and calculating machines to something done using the first electronic computers. Dorothy saw the future of electronic computers, educated herself in programming, and encouraged others to embrace this technological advance. In each of these stories, the women combined the intelligence necessary to take on exacting work with the drive to overcome obstacles society put in their way.

I learned a lot from the book because it provided deeper historical context than the movie – how the timing of these women’s lives and work tied into Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous I Have a Dream speech, and the adoption of equal-opportunity legislation.

I usually stand firmly in “the book was better” camp, but for Hidden Figures, I recommend both the book and the movie! Delve more deeply into these women's stories and their historic significance with the book and the see their stories come to life in the movie!

I read the adult version of Hidden Figures, but there is a young readers' version too and, in January 2018, the picture book version was published. It is gorgeously illustrated and makes the story of these American heroes come to life for the youngest of readers. It was recently featured in Brightly's 18 Must-Read Picture Books of 2018. According to Brightly, it "Will inspire girls and boys alike to love math, believe in themselves, and reach for the stars."

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A MARVELOUS BOOK THAT IS NOW A MARVELOUS MOVIE

March 10, 2017

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First-time author Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 book has, of course, been made into a wonderful movie Hidden Figures. But Ms. Shetterly’s book is absolute “must reading” for those of us who wanted to know MORE, after being entranced by the movie. And this book definitely “delivers” (as well as “corrects” some of the “literary license” that was taken for dramatic purposes, in the movie). As her biography on the book’s back cover states, Ms. Shetterly actually grew up in Hampton, Virginia, and her father worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center, so she is able to provide some fascinating personal “background” for the book.

She recalls in the Prologue her memories about her father’s place of work, “Women occupied many of the cubicles; they answered phones and sat in front of typewriters, but they also made hieroglyphic marks on transparent slides and conferred with my father and other men in the office on the stacks of documents that littered their desks. That so many of them were African-American… struck me as simply part of the natural order of things: growing up in Hampton, the face of science was brown like mine… As a child… I knew so many African Americans working in science, math, and engineering that I thought that’s just what black folks did.” (Pg. xiii)

She also points out, “And while the black women are the most hidden of the mathematicians who worked at the NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and later at NASA, they were not sitting alone in the shadows: the white women who made up the majority of Langley’s computing workforce over the years have hardly been recognized for their contributions to the agency’s long-term success.” (Pg. xvi) [See Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars, for more about them.]

She explains about her research, “My investigation became more like an obsession… I was determined to prove their existence and their talent in a way that meant they would never again be lost to history… I started to want something more for them than just putting them on the record. What I wanted was for them to have the grand, sweeping narrative that they deserved… Not at the margins, but at the very center, the protagonists of the drama. And not just because they are black, or because they are women, but because they are part of the American epic.” (Pg. xvii-xviii)

She explains about the cafeteria, “Most groups sat together out of habit. For the West Computers, it was by mandate. A white cardboard sign… [was] spelling out the lunchroom hierarchy: COLORED COMPUTERS. It was the only sign in the West Area cafeteria; no other group needed their seating proscribed in the same fashion. The janitors, the laborers, the cafeteria workers themselves did not take lunch in the main cafeteria. The women of West Computing were the only black professionals at the laboratory---not exactly excluded, but not quite included either.” (Pg. 43)

She points out, “Not everyone could take the long hours and high stakes of working at Langley, but most of the women in West Computing felt that if they didn’t stand up to the pressure, they’d forfeit their opportunity for the women who would come after them. They had more riding on the jobs at Langley than most… [they] were becoming a band of sisters in and out of work, each day bringing them closer to each other and tethering them to the place that was transforming them as they helped to transform it.” (Pg. 49)

She notes that Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe in the movie) was leader of the AME’s Girl Scout troop No. 11; and once, after she started to lead the troop in a song they had often sung, that had a reference to slaves working the fields, she announced to the girls, “‘Hold on a minute!... We are never going to sing this again…’ … The song reinforced all the crudest stereotypes of what a Negro could do or be… It was a powerful moment for the girls of Troop 11. Mary didn’t have the power to remove the limits that society imposed on her girls, but it was her duty, she felt, to help pry off the restrictions, they might place on themselves… You can do better---WE can do better, she told them with every word and every deed. For Mary Jackson, life was a long process of raising everyone’s expectations.” (Pg. 98)

She observes, “even though it was the black women who broke Langley’s color barrier, paving the way for the black men now being hired, the women would still have to fight for something that the black men could take for granted: the title of engineer.” (Pg. 114)

She recounts, “John Becker [chief of the Compressibility Division] gave Mary Jackson the instructions for working through the calculations. She delivered the finished assignment to him… Becker reviewed the output, but something about the numbers didn’t seem right to him. So he challenged Mary’s numbers, insisting that her calculations were wrong… Finally, it became clear: the problem wasn’t with her output but with his input. Her calculations were correct, based on the wrong numbers Becker had given her. John Becker apologized to Mary Jackson… Mary Jackson---a former West Computer!---had faced down the brilliant John Becker and won. It was cause for quiet celebration and behind-the-scenes thumbs-up among all the female computers.” (Pg. 114-115)

She states, “Outside the gates, the caste rules were clear. Blacks and whites lived separately, ate separately, studied separately, and, for the most part, worked separately. At Langley, the boundaries were fuzzier. Blacks… had also been given an unprecedented entrée into the professional world… Sometimes the demons still presented themselves in the form of racism and blatant discrimination. Sometimes they took on the softer cast of ignorance and thoughtless prejudice. But these days, there was also a new culprit: the insecurity that plagued black people as they code-shifted through the unfamiliar language and customs of an integrated life.” (Pg. 123)

In one of the incidents that the movie version changed, Ms. Shetterly notes about Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson in the movie), “From the very beginning, Katherine felt completely at home at Langley… At the beginning, she didn’t even realize the bathrooms were segregated… Though bathrooms for the black employees were clearly marked, most of the bathrooms---the ones implicitly designated for white employees---were unmarked. As far as Katherine was concerned, there was no reason why she shouldn’t use those as well. It would be a couple of years before she was confronted with whole rigmarole of separate bathrooms. By then, she simply refused to change her habits---refused to so much as enter the Colored bathrooms. And that was that. No one ever said another word to her about it.” (Pg. 129)

She explains, “Across the country, the United States debated the quality of its schools, concerned with how American students matched up to the Soviets in math and the sciences… Virtually every review of the situation questioned how much desperately needed brainpower was being squandered by the intentional neglect of America’s Negro schools.” (Pg. 142) Later, she adds, “In forcing the United States to compete for the allegiance of yellow and black countries throwing off the shackles of colonialism, the Soviets influenced something much closer to Earth, and ultimately more difficult than putting a satellite, or even a human, into space: weakening Jim Crow’s grip on America.” (Pg. 170)

She reports, “‘Why can’t I go to the editorial meetings?’ [Katherine] asked the engineers… ‘Girls don’t go to the meetings,’ Katherine’s male colleagues told her. ‘Is there a law against it?’ Katherine retorted. There wasn’t, in fact. There were laws telling her … which fountain to drink from. There were laws restricting her… because she was a woman. But no law applied to the editorial meeting. It wasn’t personal: it was just the way things had always been done, they told her.” (Pg. 179) But she adds, “‘Let her go,’ they finally said, exasperated. The engineers just got tired of saying no. Who were they, they must have figured, to stand in the way of someone so committed to making a contribution… whose success… might tip the balance in the outcome of the Cold War?” (Pg. 182)

She records, “Spaceship-flying computers might be the future, but it didn’t mean that John Glenn had to trust them. He did, however, trust the brainy fellas who controlled the computers. And the brainy fells who controlled the computers trusted THEIR computer, Katherine Johnson… therefore, John Glenn trusted Katherine Johnson… ‘Get the girl to check the numbers,’ said the astronaut. If she says the numbers are good, he told them, I’m ready to go.” (Pg. 216-217)

There is SO much more in the book; if you are interested in the movie, in the historical progress of African-Americans and women in this country, in the history of the space program, or just in a beautifully-told account of an ultimately highly “inspirational” story, you need to read this book! Personally, I can’t wait to read Ms. Shetterly’s next work…

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Laura's Reviews

Compelling True Story that All Americans Should Read!

January 27, 2017

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Hidden Figures is the book I have been waiting for. As a woman engineer that has often been the only woman in the room, it was inspiring to read about women in the past who persevered to have the careers they dreamed of in the mathematics and engineering fields. I never knew that women were behind the calculations that put Americans on the moon and helped develop better aircraft during and after WWII.

Hidden Figures tells the story of many women, but focuses on Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Groble Johnson, and Mary Jackson. During WWII, Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was faced with a problem – how could they get enough mathematicians and human “computers” to do the calculations necessary to get state of the art aircraft designed for the war effort? They decided to start advertising at colleges for mathematicians including all black colleges. They hired a number of highly qualified women with great mathematical skills who put in their all to make both the war effort and space program a success. While doing so, they also helped to bring their families a better life.

I’ve honestly struggled with this book review. I could write a multi-page review and go into depth about each woman and their lives, but I don’t think that is effective. The book has such a great depth to it, it is hard to narrow it down for a review and give it justice. I bookmarked fifty or so quotes I loved so I’ll have to narrow it down to. What did I love about the book? What I loved the most was learning about women that were successful in the STEM field. When you are growing up and thinking about going into the STEM field, there are not many role models to look up to. That is why I am also so excited about the movie. Having it become the norm to show the reality of women working in these fields will hopefully encourage other young women to pursue a career in these fields. I also love that it is finally giving these women credit for all of their hard work.

I also loved that the book told the story of many women who worked at Langley, but focused on these women. I loved learning their stories, their lives and struggles and how they were able to use their love of math to get a college education and a rewarding career.

Hidden Figures also gave a unique look into history. These women worked at NASA, but were not considered equal. Over time they were able to work for equality and a way to break through the glass ceiling. Why were women with the same qualification as men hired at a lower grade and not allowed to progress up to as high a grade as similarly qualified men? They worked hard to dispel the myth that “men were uniquely qualified to be engineers.” I learned a lot more about the segregated south as well. It seems so strange to me that African Americans not only couldn’t use bathrooms or drinking fountains that white people used, but they couldn’t even check out books from the library that weren’t from the colored section. They also couldn’t attend the same schools which forced each town to try to staff two different schools, which was not always effective. The segregation made it very hard for a woman of color to be able to make it in a technical field, but these women persevered and made it.

I’ve narrowed down a few favorite quotes:

“As a child, however, I knew so many African Americans working in science, math, and engineering that I thought that’s just what black folks did.” – Author Margot Lee Shetterly. I thought this was awesome. If we can change the stereotype of only white males being in these fields, I think we could attract more qualified people to them.

“You men and women working here far from the sound of drums and guns, working in your civilian capacity in accordance with you highly specialized skills, are winning your part of this war: the battle of research. This war is being fought in the laboratories as well as on the battlefields.”

“Being an engineer, Mary Jackson would eventually learn, meant being the only black person, or the only woman, or both, at industry conferences for years.” I still find myself the only woman at engineering meetings, but it’s gotten better.

“They wouldn’t get rich, but an engineer’s salary was more than enough to crack into the ranks of the comfortable middle class.” I always tell this to my family who thinks engineers live in mansions.

“There wasn’t one day I didn’t wake up excited to go to work.” – Katherine Johnson

“She was still juggling the duties of Girl Scout mom, Sunday school teacher, trips to music lessons, and homemaker for her two daughters in addition to her full time work at Langley.” I felt like this was a page out of my life!

Overall, Hidden Figures told a compelling true story that all Americans should know about the hidden women who helped to make our air and space program a success. I learned a lot from this book and can’t wait to see the movie!

Book Source: Review Copy from William Morrow. Thanks!

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M. R. RandazzoTop Contributor: Archery

The women behind the science

January 14, 2018

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Being a person who considered science and math more fun than English and language skills, this book brought back memories of how I had to fight to be in courses not typical for a female. Although I am not black, I did grow up pre-computer era, where girls were not considered smart enough to do math, let alone like science. The only thing scientific we were supposed to know about was taking care of a home and raising children. (Spoilers ahead)
On that note, the book is set in the early days of NASA, when the first astronauts were chosen from the best pilots and going into space was still a dream. As there was no computer/machine yet developed all computations were done manually on paper by mathematicians who were called computers because they computed. NASA which started up right after WWII, was the great equal opportunity employer of that era which enabled those who had those jobs to become better situated both in education and economic status but there were problems because of the underlying culture of the era. Even though I followed all the launches of NASA, I never knew that they employed women to do the calculations but kept it hidden under wraps like present-day Silicon Valley does to all women today.
This was an inspiring story of these no-longer hidden figures. May more women be inspired to learn STEM.

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And they helped us make it to the moon.

July 4, 2017

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I saw the movie first and then ordered the book. I saw some situations were enhanced to make the movie more dramatic, but I was pleased to learn that the John Glenn anecdote was true. The author has done a lot of research and covered a lot of territory and time (years). Be sure to read the Acknowledgements, Notes, and Bibliography to learn even more.

The book is thorough and begins with an interesting prologue; the author was introduced to that world--NASA's Langley Research Center (the name varies) in Hampton, Virginia--as a child because her father worked there, not realizing its importance, but probably not many people did. The story itself begins during WWII, when some doors opened to women to fill jobs left empty by men going to war. Of course, it was even harder for black women to gain entry to jobs and cope with prejudice and those colored bathrooms set in out-of-the-way locations. The history is detailed and includes the beginning of the Air Force, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, and the space program--jump started by Sputnik--and how NACA became NASA. The book follows individual women's lives, interweaving them throughout the years and their challenges and contributions. Those contributions and their names were almost lost. I am glad we're learning about them now; and I learned about Virginia's Jim Crow laws that relegated them to their own separate area: West Computing. (Prince Edward county in Virginia was the last in the state to integrate their schools.) There is so much American history in this book. Highly recommended.

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Ronald R Johnson

A Challenging Book That's Worth the Challenge

June 30, 2017

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The book is far more informative than the movie, although it requires careful attention. As the author explains in the Prologue, she wanted to write this story in "the grand, sweeping" manner that it deserved. She has certainly done that, but it's no easy task, either for writer or reader. This is a story about a city (Hampton, Virginia), a place of employment within that city (Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory), a government agency (NACA, the precursor to NASA), the people who worked for that agency at that place within that city, and - above all - the people of color who stepped forward when unprecedented opportunities presented themselves at Langley in the mid-twentieth century. Because the author tries to show us all this, she does whatever she feels is necessary, jumping back and forth chronologically, shifting from wide-angle lens to close-up shots rather abruptly, and weaving it all together with language that is rich and evocative - almost too rich at times. I found myself having to read the book in small doses (a page or two at a time), then set it aside to think about what I had read. This is a very unusual book, and one well-worth reading. But it requires patience.

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