Oriana Fallaci

Oriana Fallaci died this year.

I don't know much about her -- she was an Italian journalist and writer, and was known for her punchy style -- but years ago, she wrote a book about the Apollo missions which was the first one that I read that talked about the people, not the program. I gather the buttoned-down people at NASA weren't exactly sure how to handle this Italian person, so she was able to push the envelope in getting her story. There was plenty in there about Apollo, and NASA, and the whole space culture, but this was the first one that made me feel as if I had the inside scoop on the people who were the reason that the program worked. The people who had the right stuff, back when you could say that, and mean it.

To tell the truth, I don't know how good her book actually was. But forty years later, I still remember it.