Dark Side of the Moon by Gerard Degroot

Dark Side of the Moon by Gerard Degroot

For a very brief moment during the 1960s, America was moonstruck. Every boy dreamed of being an astronaut; every girl dreamed of marrying one. But despite the best efforts of a generation of scientists, the almost foolhardy heroics of the astronauts, and 35 billion dollars, the moon turned out to be a place of 'magnificent desolation', to use Buzz Aldrin's words. In Dark Side of the Moon, Gerard DeGroot reveals how NASA cashed in on the Americans' thirst for heroes in an age of discontent and became obsessed with putting a man on the moon, in the process limiting what could be acheived in space. Drawing on meticulous archival research, DeGroot cuts through the propaganda peddled by the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations - not to mention the NASA spin doctors - and exposes the truth behind one of the most revered myths of American history.

A canny academic's take on the real reason behind America's obsession with beating the Soviets to the Moon, and the absurdity of what they found * Esquire *
Annoyingly thorough and readable -- Giles Whittell * The Times *
DeGroot gets off to a terrific start: his prose is punchy, his contentions startling, his indignation palpable -- John Preston * Sunday Telegraph *
It can't be denied that beyond the dingy politicking, lunatic number-crunching and slide-rule stuff, there was something grand about the US space programmeDeGroot's achievement is to have preserved that, even as he exposes the dark side -- Brian Morton * Sunday Herald *
An elegant contribution to the history of the space age. For space nuts who think Apollo is all about heroism, it should be compulsory reading -- Andrew Smith * Sunday Times *

Born in California, Gerard DeGroot is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews. He has written ten books on various aspects of twentieth-century history, most recently The Bomb: A Life, a history of nuclear weapons which won the 2004 RUSI Westminster Medal for Military Literature. He regularly contributes to national newspapers both in Britain and in the USA.

SKU	Non disponible
ISBN 13	9781844138319
ISBN 10	1844138313
Titre	Dark Side of the Moon
Auteur	Gerard Degroot
État	Non disponible
Type de reliure	Paperback
Éditeur	Vintage Publishing
Année de publication	2008-02-07
Nombre de pages	336
Note de couverture	La photo du livre est présentée à titre d'illustration uniquement. La reliure, la couverture ou l'édition réelle peuvent varier.
Note	Non disponible