Virtual Books & Brews: Across the Airless Wilds

UPDATE: Due to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and community spread, this event will now be presented online. This event is no longer scheduled for a live appearance at Pale Fire.

WMRA's Books & Brews is made possible thanks to our series sponsor, Gaines Group Architects. The Gaines Group has offices in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.

Signed copies of Across the Airless Wilds are available at Stone Soup Books.

While not discussed often, Apollos 15, 16, and 17 each commanded a mountainous area the size of Manhattan. All told, their crews traveled 56 miles, and brought deeper science and a far more swashbuckling style of exploration to the moon. And they triumphed for one very American reason: they drove.

Across the Airless Wilds puts the reader alongside the men who dreamed of driving on the moon and designed and built the Lunar Rover, troubleshot its flaws, and strapped themselves into its seats. Shining a deserved spotlight on these overlooked characters and the missions they created, it's a celebration of genius, perseverance, and daring.

Earl Swift is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and also the author of Chesapeake Requiem and The Big Roads.

Earl Swift began writing for a living in his teens. In the years since, the Virginia-based journalist has penned seven books and hundreds of major features for newspapers and magazines, and has earned a reputation for fast-moving narrative and scrupulous reporting. His editors have nominated his work for the National Book Award, the National Magazine Award, and seven times for a Pulitzer Prize.

A former Fulbright fellow in New Zealand, Swift has been a fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia since 2012. He and his 26-year-old daughter, Saylor, are neighbors in the Blue Ridge mountains west of Charlottesville.