The Heavens And the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age - Tapa dura

"Exhaustively researched, brilliantly conceived, and beautifully written." -- New York Times Book Review

"A lucid and comprehensive political history of the American, European, and Russian space programs." -- New Scientist

"[An] immensely readable and elegant book." -- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

"[A] boldly conceived, elegantly written, and unfailingly provocative history of the new age of space." -- Science

"This highly acclaimed study approaches the space race as a problem in comparative public policy." -- The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

"Once every decade or so, a book comes along that stands by itself as a remarkable contribution to the literature of a field. Such a work is Walter A. McDougall's... the Heavens and the Earth." -- Technology and Culture

Drawing on published literature, archival sources in both the United States and Europe, interviews with key participants, and important declassified material, McDougall presents the stories of the U.S., European, and Soviet space programs as fascinating examples of comparative public policy. McDougall argues that the Soviet Union made its way into space first because it employed the world's first "technocracy." Discussing the political leadership of Khrushchev, Eiscuhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, he makes clear why the United States quickly developed its own version of state-driven technology, how it succeeded, and what it cost - materially and morally.