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The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age

The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age
By Walter A. McDougall

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Product Details

  • Published on: 2001-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 584 pages

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece!!!5
This is the best political history written about the space program to date. McDougall's book is masterfully researched and written. This is what scholarship is all about! As a doctoral student in space policy, I have found this book to be an incredible reference guide in my studies.

McDougall's genius lies in his ability to decifer the true reasons (political, social, and economic) behind the space race. The amazing thing is that he did so before most of the classified documents regarding the opening years of the American space program were released. Almost all of his assumptions have been proven true as those documents have become available to the public.

I would highly recommend this book to any true student of the history of the space program.

Intellectual Stimulation, not MTV5
Unlike one of the reveiwers below, I did not approach this book looking for an outer space shoot-em-up action movie. McDougall provides clever and original insights into the the politics of space. Coupled with his lucid writing style, this book elucidates many of American and Soviet motivations for space programs. This book is thoroughly original, insightful, and poses some excellect questions for future research. This book recounts the political history of the space race, and McDougall need not apologoze for not including Obi-Wan Kinobi.

Good history but a bit dry3
Nearly too thorough in its analysis of the space programs of the U.S. and Soviet Union. As it was intended as a work of history, I suppose it accomplished its goal. However, there are other books on the subject that are more concise in their dealing with this subject. In their relative brevity they may lose some of the depth this book offers, but not nearly enough so to render them non-valid. Perhaps this book is original, but it is not unique in its analysis. Oh, and Kenobi is spelled with an E, not an I. Insults work better when not flawed.