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The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age
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The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age Hardcover - 1899

by Walter a. McDougall

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for 1986, this highly acclaimed study approaches the space race as a problem in comparative public policy. Drawing on exhaustive research, author and ORBIS editor Walter A. McDougall examines U.S., European, and Soviet space programs and their politics. 25 illustrations.

From the publisher

This highly acclaimed study approaches the space race as a problem in comparative public policy. Drawing on published literature, archival sources in both the United States and Europe, interviews with many of the key participants, and important declassified material, such as the National Security Council's first policy paper on space, McDougall examines U.S., European, and Soviet space programs and their politics. Opening with a short account of Nikolai Kibalchich, a late nineteenth-century Russian rocketry theoretician, McDougall argues that the Soviet Union made its way into space first because it was the world's first "technocracy" -- which he defines as "the institutionalization of technological change for state purpose." He also explores the growth of a political economy of technology in both the Soviet Union and the United States.

"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

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

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

First line

without ceasing to be man, for he is Homo faber, the toolmaker, the technologist.And man explores through idiosyncratic choice, because he is also Homo pictor, the symbolist, the dreamer.

Details

  • Title The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age
  • Author Walter a. McDougall
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Pages 584
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher ACLS History E-Book Project
  • Date 1899-12-31
  • ISBN 9781597401654 / 159740165X
  • Weight 2.18 lbs (0.99 kg)
  • Dimensions 9 x 6 x 1.44 in (22.86 x 15.24 x 3.66 cm)
  • Dewey Decimal Code 387.809

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