Skygods

The Fall of Pan Am

By: Robert Gandt

Narrated by: Thomas Block

Originally published by Wm. Morrow, in 1995, Skygods is the saga of America's most glamorous airline - from its meteoric ascent to its plunge to extinction. Pan Am blazed the way across the world's oceans with its magnificent Clipper ships, launched the first international jet service, was the first to fly the behemoth 747, was the lead customer for America's SST and the Concorde, and was even taking reservations for the first commercial flights to the moon.

Told from multiple viewpoints - pilots, stewardesses, management executives - Skygods is the life story of an American icon.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Robert Gandt (P)2014 Robert Gandt

Very interesting story

This book chronicles the rise and fall of Pan Am. An interesting story in and of itself, but the author odd able to unveil the facts in such a way to keep you on the edge of your seat. The audio book version is great too, always providing tons of entertainment.

Brings the Imperial Airline to life again

Loved this book, always been a huge fan of Pan Am (even though I’m too young to have flown on it). Really good story, brings it to life.

good

the way it was to a Pan American Airlines
and the fall of a great Airline

Good History of the legendary Pan Am

Really enjoyed this. I was vaguely familiar with the history of PanAm and enjoyed all the history and background provided. I am old enough to have traveled on Pan Am in the 60's heyday and watched the downfall but didn't really follow all of the downfall through the 80s and 90s as it seems all of the legacy airlines were tanking. This provided a great overview. Highly recommend if you have any interest in the history of the Airlines.

Entertaining

This was a good listen overall if you like aviation and history. But there was something missing. Not sure what it was though, hence the 4 stars.

Engaging!

Would you consider the audio edition of Skygods to be better than the print version?

Probably so… Thomas Block's narration--a kind of curmudgeonly old-timer delivery--was charming and definitely grew on me. I am inclined to think that his reading brings out some humor in Gandt's writing that would be easy to miss from the printed page.

What did you like best about this story?

Gandt's decision to make the perceptions of the pilots, the "Sky Gods", the focus of his narrative. Specifically, the "New Hires" from the mid-1960s, who did their apprenticeships under the "Masters of Ocean Flying Boats", and who were promised that they would be captains of SSTs and Lunar Clippers. This focus made for a very human touch to a book about economics, business relationships, corporate mergers, and civil aviation policy.

Any additional comments?

If I have one criticism, which is not really fair, it would be this: I would like more on the heyday of Pan-Am and less on its prolonged decline. On the other hand, Pan-Am's decline is a perfect window into the larger commercial aviation industry, and that story, from 1968 and the dawn of the 747, through the early '90s, is fascinating.

Outstanding!

I highly recommend this excellent story to anyone who has an interest in real aviation history told from the human perspective.

Excellent dive into Pan Am undone by narration

This is a wonderfully written story, a true deep dive into the aviation legend that was Pan Am. The author takes us back to the original days of the flying boats, or clippers, that launched Pan Am into hearts and minds the world over. Even the Supreme Sky God, Juan Tripp, is explored here in fascinating detail. However, the narration is simply terrible. I can understand why, on the surface, this narrator was chosen as he has a heavy timber to his voice that could work well with audiobooks. That was not the case here, unfortunately. Too often, he comes across as monotone and dull, not seeming to understand the need for inflection at various points. When discussing a tragic loss of life his inflection is no different than discussing a board meeting. Too, he often bizarrely mispronounces common words; for instance pronouncing produce as "pradus". It's really weird. Even weirder are his character voices which, really, are just comically bad. The first time he did this I thought he was joking but nope, it's that way throughout. This is still worth a listen, it just could have been so much better.

Compelling read, great narration

Attention Aviation History Enthusiasts, former and current Airline employees and anyone who likes to read a good true story about American history this book is a must read for you. Brilliantly narrated by Thomas Block, this book is hard to stop listening to, I found myself driving around my block just so I could finish a Chapter before parking.

A compelling, interesting book, even though it is very detailed. Fast moving story tied to American history and Aviation development.

An airline company crashes

Very interesting story of a colossal rise and fall as well as mismanagement of what could have been a profitable multi-century business.