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A world without shuttle flights, the home shopping network,
or mad cow disease, an atmosphere of boundless post-war enthusiasm,
stiff moral codes,
and crippling McCarthyism. This was America in the 1950's.
In
that contradictory and exciting era, Harju began a journey that would
take
him from a tiny town in Upper Michigan to one of the most demanding
engineering
programs in the country and finally into America's race for space.
In his autobiographical The Class of '57, Jerry Harju juxtaposes his coming of age as a small towner struggling at the highly competitive University of Michigan with that of the USA competing to win a critical technological arms race begun after World War II. Harju brings humor and an amazing memory for detail to the task. The book is brilliantly populated with colorful characters: pitiless professors, coy coeds, a Russian beer-drinking pal, back-of-the-envelope rocket engineers, and Mexican ladies of the evening. At the end of his freshman year, Harju was invited to participate in a co-op program between the U of M and the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. At White Sands, he witnessed the test flight of the last captured German V-2 rocket. The experience left him with such a fascination for rockets that he carried it throughout his professional career. "A fascinating account of life as a Michigan student in the 1950's. Beautifully written in vivid style." Dr. Harlan Hatcher, President Emeritus, University of Michigan"What a nice way to go back to school. All of the memories, all of the fun, and none of the final exams." Gene Perret, Three time Emmy Award Winning Writer and Writing Supervisor for Bob Hope"Readers of Jerry Harju's other books will certainly enjoy this one." Andrew Grgurich, book reviewer, The Marquette Michigan Mining Journal |
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