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''The Right Stuff'' is a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe about the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar experiments with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the NASA space program. ''The Right Stuff'' is based on extensive research by Wolfe, who interviewed test pilots, the astronauts and their wives, among others. The story contrasts the "Mercury Seven"〔Wolfe 2001, p. 143. Note: Wolfe uses this term exactly once.〕 and their families with test pilots such as Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many contemporaries as the best of them all, but who was never selected as an astronaut. Wolfe wrote that the book was inspired by the desire to find out why the astronauts accepted the danger of space flight. He recounts the enormous risks that test pilots were already taking, and the mental and physical characteristics—the titular "right stuff"—required for and reinforced by their jobs. Wolfe likens the astronauts to "single combat warriors" from an earlier era who received the honor and adoration of their people before going forth to fight on their behalf. The 1983 film, ''The Right Stuff'', is adapted from the book. == Writing and publication == In 1972 Jann Wenner, the editor of ''Rolling Stone'' assigned Wolfe to cover the launch of NASA's last moon mission, Apollo 17. Wolfe became fascinated with the astronauts, and his competitive spirit compelled him to try to outdo Norman Mailer's nonfiction book about the first moon mission, ''Of a Fire on the Moon''. He published a four-part series for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1973 titled "Post-Orbital Remorse", about the depression that some astronauts experienced after having been in space. After the series, Wolfe began researching the whole of the space program, in what became a seven-year project from which he took time to write ''The Painted Word'', a book on art, and to complete ''Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine'', a collection of shorter pieces.〔Ragen 2001, pp. 22–26.〕 In 1977 he returned to his astronaut book full-time. Wolfe originally planned to write a complete history of the space program, though after writing through the Mercury program, he felt that his work was complete and that it captured the astronauts' ethos — the "right stuff" that astronauts and test pilots of the 1940s and 1950s shared — the unspoken code of bravery and machismo that compelled these men to ride on top of dangerous rockets. While conducting research, he consulted with General Chuck Yeager and, after receiving a comprehensive review of his manuscript, was convinced that test pilots like Yeager should form the backdrop of the period. In the end, Yeager becomes a personification of the many postwar test pilots and their "right stuff."〔Wolfe 1979, p. 368.〕 The phrase itself may have originated in the Joseph Conrad story "Youth", where it was used. ''The Right Stuff'' was published in 1979 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and became Wolfe's best selling book yet. It was praised by most critics, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.〔Ragen 2001, p. 26–28.〕〔 ("National Book Awards – 1980" ). National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-21. This was the award for General Nonfiction (hardcover) during a period in National Book Awards history when there were many nonfiction subcategories.〕 In the foreword to a new edition, published in 1983 when the film adaptation was released, Wolfe wrote that his "book grew out of some ordinary curiosity" about what "makes a man willing to sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle… and wait for someone to light the fuse."〔Wolfe 2001, Foreword.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Right Stuff (book)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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