Product Description

From the author of "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World", this is the paperback edition of the TV tie-in charting the shocking but true story behind the space race - and the ruthless, brilliant scientists who fuelled it. With the end of the Cold War it is now possible to reveal its generation of secrets and cover-ups, bringing an historical opportunity: the unmasking of the true heroes and villains behind the race to be the first to conquer space. This is one of the greatest stories in history, beginning in the throes of the Second World War and spanning through to the moon landings. With the US and Russia pitched against one another during the Cold War, it was the race to create the most powerful rocket and dominate the world, culminating in 1969's 'giant leap for mankind'. The most pioneering and high-risk experiments ever undertaken cost untold millions - and hundreds of lives, as mistakes were made, some too horrific to be made public. It is a tale that plays out against a backdrop of communism and espionage. Buried within this multi-million-dollar battle between nations, are the dramatic accounts of the individuals who seek to be the winners at any cost. With ex-Nazi Wernher von Braun on the American side pitted against the enigmatic Sergei Korolev on the Soviet side, this revealing new history shows the extent to which politics and personal ambition combined to create an explosive race for the glory of victory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #206048 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'Lucid, pacy and readable.' Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman 'This fascinating book illuminates the complex relations between Germany, America and Russia during the space race of the Cold War years!'The Space Race' is much sharper than the usual television tie-in ! Heroes, villains and victims populate this gripping story.' Maggie Gee, Daily Telegraph Praise for Deborah Cadbury: 'The Lost King of France': 'This is history as it should be. It is stunningly written, I could not put it down. This is the best account of the French Revolution I have ever read.' Alison Weir 'The Dinosaur Hunters': 'Beautifully structured and sympathetically narrated, Cadbury's book benefits from having a subject that successfully brings together science, suspense and sentiment. Something for everyone, then.' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times

Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman
'Lucid, pacy and readable.'

About the Author
Deborah Cadbury is the award-winning TV science producer for the BBC, including Horizon for which she won an Emmy. She is also the highly- acclaimed author of 'The Feminisation of Nature' and 'The Dinosaur Hunters'.

Customer Reviews

And across the line...
Deborah's way of telling this amazing story really makes you feel as if you're in the race, or a spectator at least. An excellent read, with lots of facts (I trust) based on plenty of research. Highly recommended.

Get the physics right!
I found that the reading and enjoyment of this book somewhat marred by the type of basic A level physics mistakes commonly made by my students when they do not consider the situation carefully. For example the centripetal force IS the force of gravity on the satellite or capsule, not just equal to it. Circular motion relies on unbalanced forces, in this case the centripetal force to accelerate the capsule towards the centre of the Earth; there is no outward force to be balanced and forces are not balanced by speed! I would have thought that these errors should have been spotted by the scientific proof-readers. The author undoubtedly has far greater literary skills than I, but in a science/technology based book the physics has to be correct. By all means read this book, it is paced well and as a story there is much to commend it.

Mills and Boon space history
I was really looking forward to this book, but it is a big disappointment.

I expect a hardback book of a TV series to be well illustrated, particularly if the BBC is involved, but there are very few pictures and those included are very well known. In particular, there is no photo of the Russian N-1 moon rocket, a major omission in a book on this subject surely.

The book does not appear to have been type set properly (or proof read properly?), because many, many words have extra hyphens inserted in them for no apparent reason, sometimes several on one page.

The language is, er, florid, purple, hyperbolic and more suited to a Mills and Boon bodice ripper than a serious biography. Try "... the wind dispersing their treasonable words into the vast Nordic sky". Way over the top, often.

Underneath all this is a good story, and some good information on von Braun and Korelev - which is why I gave it 2 stars. If this style is what you like add one star, if you are hoping for a serious history of the space race, subtract two.